119:170 Listen to my appeal for mercy! 1
Deliver me, as you promised. 2
119:171 May praise flow freely from my lips,
for you teach me your statutes.
119:172 May my tongue sing about your instructions, 3
for all your commands are just.
119:173 May your hand help me,
for I choose to obey 4 your precepts.
119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;
I find delight in your law.
119:175 May I 5 live and praise you!
May your regulations help me! 6
119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. 7
Come looking for your servant,
for I do not forget your commands.
1 tn Heb “may my appeal for mercy come before you.”
2 tn Heb “according to your speech.”
3 tn Heb “your word.”
4 tn The words “to obey” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
5 tn Heb “my life.”
6 tn God’s regulations will “help” the psalmist by giving him moral and ethical guidance.
7 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).