Psalms 73:18

Surely ¹  you put them in slippery places; you bring them down ²  to ruin.

Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.

Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.

Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.

The slippery road you've put them on, with a final crash in a ditch of delusions.

You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction.

Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.

Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.

Surely ¹  you put them in slippery places; you bring them down ²  to ruin.

¹ tn The use of the Hebrew term אַךְ (’akh, “surely”) here literarily counteracts its use in v. 13. The repetition draws attention to the contrast between the two statements, the first of which expresses the psalmist’s earlier despair and the second his newly discovered confidence.

² tn Heb “cause them to fall.”