Psalm 4/Notes/Phrasal.v. 2.19482

• The phrase אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי (lit.: "God of righteousness of me") has been understood and translated in various ways. The NET, for example, says, "God who vindicates me!" i.e., the God who recognizes my righteousness and declares me to be in the right (cf. NLT: "God who declares me innocent;" NEB: "maintainer of my rights;" NJPS: "O God, my vindicator!" so DCH: "God of my justification;" Radak: "you who know that I am righteous"). According to this interpretation, the phrase is a condensed version of the clause in Ps 18:21—"YHWH deals with me according to my righteousness" (יִגְמְלֵנִי יְהוָה כְּצִדְקִי) (cf. Baethgen 1904, 9).
• Other translations say "my righteous God" (e.g., NIV). According to this view, the word צֶדֶק denotes a characteristic of God, and the pronominal suffix "my" does not modify צֶדֶק alone, but the whole phrase אֱלֹהֵי צֶדֶק (cf. הַר קֹדְשִׁי, "my holy mountain," in Ps 2:6). As Goldingay explains, "YHWH is God of צדק in the sense of being committed to doing the right thing by people, especially when they are in need" (Goldingay 2006, 162).
• We prefer to interpret the clause as "the God who makes things right for me, namely by letting me triumph over adversity" (Duhm 1899, 13). "God" (אֱלֹהֵי) is the agent who brings about a state of "right-ness" or "prosperity" (צֶדֶק) for the sake of "me." Cf. Zenger: "The address is not aimed at God acting according to the righteousness of the person praying, but at the actualization of God's righteousness as his outstanding characteristic (cf. Ps 11:7; 33:5; 48:11; 103:6; 116:5)" (1990, 388). In this way, the phrase is analogous to "the God who saves me" (אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעִי) in Ps 25:5, i.e., the God who brings about a state of salvation for me. Note that צֶדֶק is sometimes collocated with "salvation" (ישׁע) and can refer to "salvation, well-being... salvation which comes from God" (HALOT).