Psalms 39:12

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!

Listen to my cry for help!

Do not ignore my sobbing! ¹ 

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;

I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ² 

Psalms 56:8

56:8 You keep track of my misery. ³ 

Put my tears in your leather container! ⁴ 

Are they not recorded in your scroll? ⁵ 

Psalms 147:3

147:3 He heals ⁶  the brokenhearted,

and bandages their wounds.

Psalms 147:2

147:2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, ⁷ 

and gathers the exiles of Israel.

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ⁸  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ⁹  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Revelation 7:17

7:17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

² tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”

³ tn Heb “my wandering you count, you.” The Hebrew term נֹד (nod, “wandering,” derived from the verbal root נוֹד, nod, “to wander”; cf. NASB) here refers to the psalmist’s “changeable circumstances of life” and may be translated “misery.” The verb סָפַר (safar, “count”) probably carries the nuance “assess” here. Cf. NIV “my lament”; NRSV “my tossings.”

⁴ tn Traditionally “your bottle.” Elsewhere the Hebrew word נֹאד (no’d, “leather container”) refers to a container made from animal skin which is used to hold wine or milk (see Josh 9:4, 13; Judg 4:19; 1 Sam 16:20). If such a container is metaphorically in view here, then the psalmist seems to be asking God to store up his tears as a reminder of his suffering.

⁵ tn The word “recorded” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The rhetorical question assumes a positive response (see the first line of the verse).

⁶ tn Heb “the one who heals.”

⁷ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

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 sn An allusion to Isa 25:8.