Psalm 109:21-29

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 109:21 tn Heb “but you, Lord, Master, deal with me for the sake of your name” or “on account of your name.” Here “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation. The Psalmist’s appeal is for God to act consistently with, and therefore maintain, his reputation (as a deliverer of the righteous and one who punishes evildoers). Note that “for your name’s sake” is paralleled by “because your loyal love is good.” The point is that the Psalmist is making an appeal not based on his own personal whim or vendetta but is calling for judicial penalties (or the fulfillment of prior prophetic indictment).
2. Psalm 109:22 tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a Polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbi yakhil b^eqirbbi, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).
3. Psalm 109:23 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
4. Psalm 109:24 tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”
5. Psalm 109:24 tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”
6. Psalm 109:25 tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”
7. Psalm 109:25 sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.
8. Psalm 109:26 tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”
9. Psalm 109:27 tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
10. Psalm 109:27 tn Heb “that your hand [is] this.”
11. Psalm 109:28 tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).
12. Psalm 109:28 tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.
13. Psalm 109:29 tn Heb “clothed.” Another option is to translate the prefixed verbal forms in this line and the next as jussives (“may my accusers be covered with shame”).