Psalm 55:16-18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 55:17 tn The first verb is clearly a cohortative form, expressing the psalmist’s resolve. The second verb, while formally ambiguous, should also be understood as cohortative here.
2. Psalm 55:17 tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive normally appears in narrational contexts to indicate past action, but here it continues the anticipatory (future) perspective of the preceding line. In Ps 77:6 one finds the same sequence of cohortative + prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive. In this case as well, both forms refer to future actions.
3. Psalm 55:17 tn Heb “my voice.”
4. Psalm 55:18 tn The perfect verbal form is here used rhetorically to indicate that the action is certain to take place (the so-called perfect of certitude).
5. Psalm 55:18 tn Heb “he will redeem in peace my life from [those who] draw near to me.”
6. Psalm 55:18 tn Or “for.”
7. Psalm 55:18 tn Heb “among many they are against me.” For other examples of the preposition עִמָּד (ʿimmad) used in the sense of “at, against,” see HALOT 842 s.v.; BDB 767 s.v.; IBHS 219 §11.2.14b.