Psa 64:1-6 | NETfull | STEP | Listen to me, O God, as I offer my lament! Protect my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks.

Psalms 64:1-6

1 Listen to me, ^{▼▼ Heb “my voice.”} O God, as I offer my lament!
Protect ^{▼▼ The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s request.} my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks. ^{▼▼ Heb “from the terror of [the] enemy.” “Terror” is used here metonymically for the enemy’s attacks that produce fear because they threaten the psalmist’s life.}
2 Hide me from the plots of evil men,
from the crowd of evildoers. ^{▼▼ Heb “workers of wickedness.”}
3 They ^{▼▼ Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.} sharpen their tongues like a sword;
they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ^{▼▼ Heb “a bitter word.”}
4 in order to shoot down the innocent ^{▼▼ The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.} in secluded places.
They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ^{▼▼ Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.}
5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ^{▼▼ Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”}
They plan how to hide ^{▼▼ Heb “they report about hiding.”} snares,
and boast, ^{▼▼ Heb “they say.”} “Who will see them?” ^{▼▼ If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).}
6 They devise ^{▼▼ Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”} unjust schemes;
they disguise ^{▼▼ The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).} a well-conceived plot. ^{▼▼ Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.}
Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ^{▼▼ Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.}