Psalm 69:26-28

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 69:26 tn Or “persecute”; Heb “chase.”
2. Psalm 69:26 tn Heb “for you, the one whom you strike, they chase.”
3. Psalm 69:26 tn Heb “they announce the pain of your wounded ones” (i.e., “the ones whom you wounded,” as the parallel line makes clear).sn The psalmist is innocent of the false charges made by his enemies (v. 4), but he is also aware of his sinfulness (v. 5) and admits that he experiences divine discipline (v. 26) despite his devotion to God (v. 9). Here he laments that his enemies take advantage of such divine discipline by harassing and slandering him. They “kick him while he’s down,” as the expression goes.
4. Psalm 69:27 tn Heb “place sin upon their sin.”
5. Psalm 69:27 tn Heb “let them not come into your vindication.”
6. Psalm 69:28 tn Heb “let them be wiped out of the scroll of the living.”sn The phrase the scroll of the living occurs only here in the OT. It pictures a scroll or census list containing the names of the citizens of a community. When an individual died, that person’s name was removed from the list. So this curse is a very vivid way of asking that the enemies die.
7. Psalm 69:28 tn Heb “and with the godly let them not be written.”sn Do not let their names be listed with the godly. This curse pictures a scroll in which God records the names of his loyal followers. The psalmist makes the point that his enemies have no right to be included in this list of the godly.