Psalms 81:15

(May those who hate the Lord ¹  cower in fear ²  before him! May they be permanently humiliated!) ³ 

Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last for ever.

"Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever.

Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him; their desolation would last forever.

I'll send the GOD-haters cringing like dogs, never to be heard from again.

The haters of the Lord would be broken, and their destruction would be eternal.

Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever.

The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him, But their fate would endure forever.

(May those who hate the Lord ¹  cower in fear ²  before him! May they be permanently humiliated!) ³ 

¹ tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.

² tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.

³ tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם (ba’atatam) or בִּעֻתָם (bi’utam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet (ב) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.

tn The verb form at the beginning of the line is jussive, indicating that this is a prayer. The translation assumes that v. 15 is a parenthetical “curse” offered by the psalmist. Having heard the reference to Israel’s enemies (v. 14), the psalmist inserts this prayer, reminding the Lord that they are God’s enemies as well.