Psalms 27:7-12

27:7 Hear me, ¹  O Lord, when I cry out!

Have mercy on me and answer me!

27:8 My heart tells me to pray to you, ² 

and I do pray to you, O Lord. ³ 

27:9 Do not reject me! ⁴ 

Do not push your servant away in anger!

You are my deliverer! ⁵ 

Do not forsake or abandon me,

O God who vindicates me!

27:10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, ⁶ 

the Lord would take me in. ⁷ 

27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; ⁸ 

lead me along a level path ⁹  because of those who wait to ambush me! ¹⁰ 

27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ¹¹ 

for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ¹² 

[27:7]  ¹ tn Heb “my voice.”

[27:8]  ² tc Heb “concerning you my heart says, ‘Seek my face.’” The verb form “seek” is plural, but this makes no sense here, for the psalmist is addressed. The verb should be emended to a singular form. The first person pronominal suffix on “face” also makes little sense, unless it is the voice of the Lord he hears. His “heart” is viewed as speaking, however, so it is better to emend the form to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”).

[27:8]  ³ tn Heb “your face, O Lord, I seek.” To “seek the Lord’s face” means to seek his favor through prayer (see 2 Sam 21:1; Pss 24:6; 105:4).

[27:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[27:9]  ⁵ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[27:10]  ⁶ tn Or “though my father and mother have abandoned me.”

[27:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “gather me in”; or “receive me.”

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles which he expects the psalmist to follow. See Ps 25:4.

[27:11]  ⁹ sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).

[27:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.

[27:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”

[27:12]  ¹² tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.