39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!
Listen to my cry for help!
Do not ignore my sobbing! 3
For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;
I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. 4
119:19 I am like a foreigner in this land. 5
Do not hide your commands from me!
119:54 Your statutes have been my songs 6
in the house where I live. 7
119:2 How blessed are those who observe his rules,
and seek him with all their heart,
13:1 Brotherly love must continue.
1 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 18, 20).
2 tn Or perhaps “hope.”
3 tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”
4 tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”
5 tn Heb “I am a resident alien in the land.” Resident aliens were especially vulnerable and in need of help. They needed to know the social and legal customs of the land to avoid getting into trouble. The translation (note the addition of “like”) assumes the psalmist is speaking metaphorically, not literally.
6 tn Heb “songs were your statutes to me.”
7 tn Heb “in the house of my dwelling place.” Some take the Hebrew noun מָגוֹר (magor) in the sense of “temporary abode,” and see this as a reference to the psalmist’s status as a resident alien (see v. 19). But the noun can refer to a dwelling place in general (see Ps 55:15).
8 tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.
10 tn Or “settled as a resident alien.”
11 tn Or “heirs with him.”
12 tn Grk “that has foundations.”
13 tn Grk “past the time of maturity.”
14 tn Grk “power to deposit seed.” Though it is not as likely, some construe this phrase to mean “power to conceive seed,” making the whole verse about Sarah: “by faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and too old, she received ability to conceive, because she regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.”
15 tn Grk “these”; in the translation the referent (children) has been specified for clarity.
16 tn Grk a collective “the sand.”
17 sn An allusion to Gen 22:17 (which itself goes back to Gen 15:5).
18 tn Grk “the promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.
19 tn Or “sojourners.”
20 tn Grk “now.”
21 tn Grk “are all from one.”
22 tn Grk “for which reason.”
23 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The context here also indicates both men and women are in view; note especially the collective τὰ παιδία (ta paidia) in v. 14.