119:16 I find delight 1 in your statutes;
I do not forget your instructions. 2
119:98 Your commandments 3 make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
119:109 My life is in continual danger, 4
but I do not forget your law.
119:141 I am insignificant and despised,
yet I do not forget your precepts.
119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. 5
Come looking for your servant,
for I do not forget your commands.
1 tn The imperfects in this verse emphasize the attitude the psalmist maintains toward God’s law. Another option is to translate with the future tense, “I will find delight…I will not forget.”
2 tn Heb “your word.” Many medieval Hebrew
3 tn The plural form needs to be revocalized as a singular in order to agree with the preceding singular verb and the singular pronoun in the next line. The
4 tn Heb “my life [is] in my hands continually.”
5 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).