Psalms 119:116-117

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, so that I will live.

Do not disappoint me!

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus on your statutes continually.

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep.

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.


tn Heb “according to your word.”

tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).