Psalms 57:3

May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹  from my enemies who hurl insults! ²  (Selah) May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Nu 23:24; Job 31:31; Ps 18:6-50; Ps 40:11; Ps 43:3; Ps 56:1,2; Ps 61:7; Ps 144:5-7; Mic 3:2,3; Mt 28:2-6; Joh 1:17; Ac 12:11

¹ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

² tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”