translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-58, 75 .


text: The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם ( miktam ), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-58, 60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”


text: Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.” sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when Saul sent assassins to surround David’s house and kill him in the morning (see 1 Sam 19:11 ). However, the psalm itself mentions foreign enemies (vv. 5, 8 ). Perhaps these references reflect a later adaptation of an original Davidic psalm.


text: Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”


text: Heb “from the workers of wickedness.”


text: Heb “from men of bloodshed.”


text: Heb “my life.”


text: The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר ( gur ), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8 .


text: Heb “without sin.”


text: Heb “they run and they are determined.”


text: Heb “arise to meet me and see.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא ( qara ’, “to meet; to encounter”) here carries the nuance of “to help.”


text: Heb “ Lord , God, Hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’ elohey ) before צְבָאוֹת ( tsÿva ’ ot , “hosts”). See Ps 89:9 , but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים ( yÿhvah ’ elohim ) precedes צְבָאוֹת ( tsÿva ’ ot ) in Pss 80:4, 19; 84:8 as well.


text: Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23 ).


text: Or “howl”; or “bark.”


text: Heb “go around.”


text: Heb “look, they gush forth with their mouth, swords [are] in their lips.”


text: The words “for they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The following question (“Who hears?”) is spoken by the psalmist’s enemies, who are confident that no one else can hear their threats against the psalmist. They are aggressive because they feel the psalmist is vulnerable and has no one to help him.


text: Or “scoff at”; or “deride”; or “mock” (see Ps 2:4 ).


label: NET textual note

text: Heb “his strength, for you I will watch.” “His strength” should be emended to “my strength” (see v. 17 ). Some also emend אֶשְׁמֹרָה (’ eshmorah , “I will watch”) to אֱזַמֵּרָה (’ ezammerah , “I will sing praises [to you]”) See v. 17 .


text: Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2 ).


text: Heb “the God of my [ Qere (marginal reading); the Kethib (consonantal text) has “his”] loyal love will meet me.”


text: Heb “will cause me to look upon.”


text: Heb “those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 56:2 .


text: Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.” sn My people might forget the lesson . Swift, sudden destruction might be quickly forgotten. The psalmist wants God’s judgment to be prolonged so that it might be a continual reminder of divine justice.


text: Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”


text: Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”


text: Heb “if they are not full, they stay through the night.”


text: Heb “and my shelter in the day of my distress.”


text: Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”


text: Heb “the God of my loyal love.”