Psalm 31:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 31:9 tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”
2. Psalm 31:9 tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.
3. Psalm 31:9 tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.
4. Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”
5. Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “stumbles in.”
6. Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “grow weak.”
7. Psalm 31:11 tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”
8. Psalm 31:11 tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests a revision may be needed. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (meʾod, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (ʾed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (ʾed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).
9. Psalm 31:11 tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”