Psalms 116:4

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

Psalms 120:1

Psalm 120 ¹ 

A song of ascents. ² 

120:1 In my distress I cried out

to the Lord and he answered me.

Matthew 26:38-39

26:38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” 26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ³  “My Father, if possible, ⁴  let this cup ⁵  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Luke 22:44

22:44 And in his anguish ⁶  he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.] ⁷ 

Hebrews 5:7

5:7 During his earthly life ⁸  Christ ⁹  offered ¹⁰  both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.

¹ sn Psalm 120. The genre and structure of this psalm are uncertain. It begins like a thanksgiving psalm, with a brief notice that God has heard the psalmist’s prayer for help and has intervened. But v. 2 is a petition for help, followed by a taunt directed toward enemies (vv. 3-4) and a lament (vv. 5-7). Perhaps vv. 2-7 recall the psalmist’s prayer when he cried out to the Lord.

² sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

³ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

⁴ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

⁵ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

⁶ tn Grk “And being in anguish.”

⁷ tc Several important Greek mss (Ì⁷⁵ א¹ A B N T W 579 1071*) along with diverse and widespread versional witnesses lack 22:43-44. In addition, the verses are placed after Matt 26:39 by ˹³. Floating texts typically suggest both spuriousness and early scribal impulses to regard the verses as historically authentic. These verses are included in א*^,2 D L Θ Ψ 0171 ˹ Ï lat Ju Ir Hipp Eus. However, a number of mss mark the text with an asterisk or obelisk, indicating the scribe’s assessment of the verses as inauthentic. At the same time, these verses generally fit Luke’s style. Arguments can be given on both sides about whether scribes would tend to include or omit such comments about Jesus’ humanity and an angel’s help. But even if the verses are not literarily authentic, they are probably historically authentic. This is due to the fact that this text was well known in several different locales from a very early period. Since there are no synoptic parallels to this account and since there is no obvious reason for adding these words here, it is very likely that such verses recount a part of the actual suffering of our Lord. Nevertheless, because of the serious doubts as to these verses’ authenticity, they have been put in brackets. For an important discussion of this problem, see B. D. Ehrman and M. A. Plunkett, “The Angel and the Agony: The Textual Problem of Luke 22:43-44,” CBQ 45 (1983): 401-16.

⁸ tn Grk “in the days of his flesh.”

⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Grk “who…having offered,” continuing the description of Christ from Heb 5:5-6.