2 Kings 6:26-27

6:26 While the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall, a woman shouted to him, “Help us, my master, O king!” 6:27 He replied, “No, let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty.”

Psalms 42:11

42:11 Why are you depressed, O my soul?

Why are you upset?

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention.


tn Heb “From where can I help you, from the threshing floor or the winepress?” The rhetorical question expresses the king’s frustration. He has no grain or wine to give to the masses.

tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshuot fÿneyelohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.