109:4 They repay my love with accusations, 1
but I continue to pray. 2
65:2 You hear prayers; 3
all people approach you. 4
A prayer of David.
17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! 6
Pay attention to my cry for help!
Listen to the prayer
I sincerely offer! 7
42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, 8
and by night he gives me a song, 9
a prayer 10 to the living God.
A prayer of David.
86:1 Listen 12 O Lord! Answer me!
For I am oppressed and needy.
Book 4
(Psalms 90-106)
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90:1 O Lord, you have been our protector 14 through all generations!
The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.
102:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!
Pay attention to my cry for help! 16
A well-written song 18 by David, when he was in the cave; 19 a prayer.
142:1 To the Lord I cry out; 20
to the Lord I plead for mercy. 21
1 tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”
2 tn Heb “and I, prayer.”
3 tn Heb “O one who hears prayer.”
4 tn Heb “to you all flesh comes.”
5 sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.
6 tn Heb “hear,
7 tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”
7 sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the
8 tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”
9 tc A few medieval Hebrew
9 sn Psalm 86. The psalmist appeals to God’s mercy as he asks for deliverance from his enemies.
10 tn Heb “turn your ear.”
11 sn Psalm 90. In this communal lament the worship leader affirms that the eternal God and creator of the world has always been Israel’s protector. But God also causes men, who are as transient as grass, to die, and in his fierce anger he decimates his covenant community, whose brief lives are filled with suffering and end in weakness. The community asks for wisdom, the restoration of God’s favor, a fresh revelation of his power, and his blessing upon their labors.
12 tn Or “place of safety.” See Ps 71:3.
13 sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.
14 tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”
15 sn Psalm 142. The psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.
16 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
17 sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57.
18 tn Heb “[with] my voice to the
19 tn Heb “[with] my voice to the