¹tn Heb “hide yourself from.”
²tn Or “restless” (see Gen 27:40). The Hiphil is intransitive-exhibitive, indicating the outward display of an inner attitude.
³tn Heb “in my complaint.”
⁴tn The verb is a Hiphil cohortative from <wh, which means “to confuse someone” in the Qal and “to go wild” in the Niphal. An Arabic cognate means “to be out of one’s senses, to wander about” (HALOT 242). With the vav conjunctive prefixed to it, the cohortative probably indicates the result or effect of the preceding main verb. Some prefer to emend the form to hm*oha@w+, a Niphal of <wh, or to hm#h^a#w+, a Qal imperfect from hmh (“to moan”). Many also prefer to take this verb with what follows (see v. 3).
⁵tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
⁶tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
⁷tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun hqu (“pressure”). See HALOT 873.
⁸tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
⁹tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root fwm, “to sway,” but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form rfmy (“let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read Wryf!m=y~ (“they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).
¹⁰tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”
¹¹tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”
¹²tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”
¹³tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.
¹⁴tn The prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.
¹⁵tn Heb “[the] wind [that] sweeps away.” The verb hus (“sweep away”) occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena in the Light of Akkadian and Ugaritic, 120).
¹⁶tn Traditionally ulb has been taken to mean “swallow” in the sense of “devour” or “destroy” (cf. KJV), but this may be a homonym meaning “confuse” (see BDB 118; HALOT 135). “Their tongue” is the understood object of the verb (see the next line).
¹⁷tn Heb “split their tongue,” which apparently means “confuse their speech,” or, more paraphrastically, “frustrate the plans they devise with their tongues.”
¹⁸tn Heb “day and night they surround it, upon its walls.” Personified “violence and conflict” are the likely subjects. They are compared to watchmen on the city’s walls.
¹⁹sn Wickedness and destruction. These terms are also closely associated in Ps 7:14.
²⁰tn Or “injury, harm.”
²¹tn Or “for.”
²²tn Heb “[who] magnifies against me.” See Pss 35:26; 38:16.
²³sn It is you. The psalmist addresses the apparent ringleader of the opposition, an individual who was once his friend.
²⁴tn Heb “a man according to my value,” i.e., “a person such as I” (see HALOT 885).
²⁵tn Heb “my close friend, one known by me.”
²⁶tn Heb “who together we would make counsel sweet.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the ongoing nature of the actions (the so-called customary use of the imperfect). Their relationship was characterized by such intimacy and friendship. See IBHS 503.
²⁷tc The meaning of the MT is unclear. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads wmylu twmyvy (“May devastation [be] upon them!”). The proposed noun twmyvy occurs only here and perhaps in the place name Beth-Jeshimoth in Num 33:49 (see HALOT 447). The Qere (marginal text) has wmylu twm yvy. The verbal form yV!y~ is apparently an alternate form of ayV!y~, a Hiphil imperfect from avn (“deceive”). In this case one might read “death will come deceptively upon them.” This reading has the advantage of reading twm (“death”) which forms a natural parallel with “Sheol” in the next line. The present translation is based on the following reconstruction of the text: tw\m* <M@v!y+. The verb assumed in the reconstruction is a Hiphil jussive third masculine singular from <mv (“be desolate”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix attached. This reconstruction assumes that (1) haplography has occurred in the traditional text (the original sequence of three mems was lost with only one mem remaining), resulting in the fusion of originally distinct forms in the Kethib, and (2) that wmylu (“upon them”) is a later scribal addition attempting to make sense of a garbled and corrupt text. The preposition lu does occur with the verb <mv, but in such cases the expression means “be appalled at/because of” (see Jer 49:20; 50:45). If one were to retain the prepositional phrase here, one would have to read the text as follows: wmylu twm <yV!y~ (“Death will be appalled at them”). The idea seems odd, to say the least. Death is not collocated with this verb elsewhere.
²⁸sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.
²⁹tn 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.
³⁰tn The prefixed verb with vav 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 consecutive. In this case as well, both forms refer to future actions.
³¹tn Heb “my voice.”
³²tn The perfect verbal form is here used rhetorically to indicate that the action is certain to take place (the so-called perfect of certitude).
³³tn Heb “he will redeem in peace my life from [those who] draw near to me.”
³⁴tn Or “for.”
³⁵tn Heb “among many they are against me.” For other examples of the preposition dmu used in the sense of “at, against,” see HALOT 842; BDB 767; IBHS 219.
³⁶tc Heb “God will hear and answer them, even [the] one who sits [from] ancient times.” The prefixed verbal from with vav consecutive carries on the anticipatory force of the preceding imperfect. The verb appears to be a Qal form from hnu (“to answer”). If this reading is retained, the point would be that God “answered” them in judgment. The translation assumes an emendation to the Piel <N}u^y+w~ (see 2 Kgs 17:20) and understands the root as hnu (“to afflict”; see also 1 Kgs 8:35).
³⁷tn Heb “[the ones] for whom there are no changes, and they do not fear God.”
³⁸sn He. This must refer to the psalmist’s former friend, who was addressed previously in vv. 12-14.
³⁹tn Heb “stretches out his hand against.”
⁴⁰tc The form should probably be emended to an active participle (wym*l=v)) from the verbal root <lv (“be in a covenant of peace with”; see BDB 1023). Perhaps the translation “his friends” suggests too intimate a relationship. Another option is to translate, “he attacks those who made agreements with him.”
⁴¹tn Heb “he violates his covenant.”
⁴²tn Heb “the butter-like [words] of his mouth are smooth.” The noun tamjm (“butter-like [words],” occurs only here. Many prefer to emend the form to ha*m=j#m@ (“from [i.e., “than”] butter”), cf. NEB, NRSV “smoother than butter.” However, in this case “his mouth” does not agree in number with the plural verb wqlj (“they are smooth”). Therefore some further propose an emendation of wyp (“his mouth”) to wynp (“his face”). In any case, the point seems to that the psalmist’s former friend spoke kindly to him and gave the outward indications of friendship.
⁴³tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”
⁴⁴tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”
⁴⁵tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here. See HALOT 393.
⁴⁶tn The pronoun is singular; the psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually.
⁴⁷tn Heb “he will never allow swaying for the righteous.”
⁴⁸tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
⁴⁹tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term tjv (“pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
⁵⁰tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
⁵¹tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
⁵²sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.
⁵³tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.
⁵⁴tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word <tkm (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 defines it as “inscription.”
⁵⁵sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).