Psalms 17:11

They attack me, now they surround me; ¹  they intend to throw me to the ground. ² 

They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.

They have now surrounded us in our steps; They set their eyes to cast us down to the ground.

They track me down, surround me, and throw me to the ground.

They are after me, nipping my heels, determined to bring me down,

They have made a circle round our steps: their eyes are fixed on us, forcing us down to the earth;

They track me down; now they surround me; they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.

They have now surrounded us in our steps; They have set their eyes, crouching down to the earth,

They attack me, now they surround me; ¹  they intend to throw me to the ground. ² 

¹ tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

² tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”