Psalms 32:9

Do not be ¹  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ²  which will not obey you unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ³ 

Job 35:11; Pr 26:3; Jer 4:22; Jer 8:6,7; Jer 31:18; Jas 3:3; Jas 4:7-10

¹ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

² tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

³ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”