Psalms 69:18

69:18 Come near me and redeem me! ¹ 

Because of my enemies, rescue me!

Psalms 145:18

145:18 The Lord is near all who cry out to him,

all who cry out to him sincerely. ² 

Isaiah 58:9

58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;

you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’

You must ³  remove the burdensome yoke from among you

and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

James 4:8

4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

² tn Heb “in truth.”

³ tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.

⁴ tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).