Psalms 9:12

For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; ¹  he did not overlook ²  their cry for help ³ 

Ge 9:5; Ex 3:7,9; Jud 10:16; 2Ki 24:4; Ps 10:14,17; Ps 22:24; Ps 34:6; Ps 102:17; Isa 26:21; Mt 23:35; Lu 11:50,51; Lu 18:7,8; Re 6:9,10; Re 16:6

¹ tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “did not forget.”

³ tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.