Psalm 9:10-12

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 9:10 tn Heb “and the ones who know your name trust in you.” The construction vav (ו) conjunctive + imperfect at the beginning of the verse expresses another consequence of the statement made in v. 8. “To know” the Lord’s “name” means to be his follower, recognizing his authority and maintaining loyalty to him. See Ps 91:14, where “knowing” the Lord’s “name” is associated with loving him.
2. Psalm 9:10 tn Heb “the ones who seek you.”
3. Psalm 9:11 tn Heb “sits” (i.e., enthroned, and therefore ruling—see v. 4). Another option is to translate as “lives” or “dwells.”
4. Psalm 9:11 tn Heb “declare among the nations his deeds.”
5. Psalm 9:12 tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash, “to seek”); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6. Psalm 9:12 tn Heb “did not forget.”
7. Psalm 9:12 tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.