119:5 If only I were predisposed 1
to keep your statutes!
119:32 I run along the path of your commands,
for you enable me to do so. 2
119:40 Look, I long for your precepts.
Revive me with your deliverance! 3
119:115 Turn away from me, you evil men,
so that I can observe 4 the commands of my God. 5
119:116 Sustain me as you promised, 6 so that I will live. 7
Do not disappoint me! 8
119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.
Then I will focus 9 on your statutes continually.
119:173 May your hand help me,
for I choose to obey 10 your precepts.
119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. 11
Come looking for your servant,
for I do not forget your commands.
1 tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”
2 tn Heb “for you make wide my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and understanding. The
3 tn Or “righteousness.”
4 tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
5 tn The psalmist has already declared that he observes God’s commands despite persecution, so here the idea must be “so that I might observe the commands of my God unhindered by threats.”
5 tn Heb “according to your word.”
6 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
7 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.
6 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.
7 tn The words “to obey” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
8 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).