Psalms 54:3

For foreigners ¹  attack me; ²  ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ³  (Selah)

Job 19:13-15; Ps 16:8; Ps 22:16; Ps 36:1; Ps 53:4; Ps 59:3-5; Ps 69:8; Ps 86:14; Mt 27:20-23; Joh 16:3

¹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read זֵדִים (zedim, “proud ones”) rather than זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”). (No matter which reading one chooses as original, dalet-resh confusion accounts for the existence of the variant.) The term זֵדִים (“proud ones”) occurs in parallelism with עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Ps 86:14 and Isa 13:11. However, זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) is parallel to עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Isa 25:5; 29:5; Ezek 28:7; 31:12.

² tn Heb “rise against me.”

³ tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”