10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? 2
119:155 The wicked have no chance for deliverance, 3
for they do not seek your statutes.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
38:11 Because of my condition, 4 even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; 5
my neighbors stand far away. 6
65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,
O God, our savior. 7
All the ends of the earth trust in you, 8
as well as those living across the wide seas. 9
For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” 11 a psalm of David.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 12
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 13
For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; 15 a prayer 16 of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. 17
56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! 18
All day long hostile enemies 19 are tormenting me. 20
1 sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew
2 tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “far from the wicked [is] deliverance.”
5 tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”
6 tn Heb “stand [aloof].”
7 tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”
7 tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”
8 tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”
9 tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rÿkhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.
9 sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.
10 tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.
11 sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).
12 tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.
11 sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.
12 tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.
13 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
14 sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).
15 tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”
16 tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.
17 tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.