For the music director; a psalm of David.
13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? 2
How long will you pay no attention to me? 3
27:9 Do not reject me! 4
Do not push your servant away in anger!
You are my deliverer! 5
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me!
69:17 Do not ignore 6 your servant,
for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! 7
88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,
and pay no attention to me? 8
104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. 9
When you take away their life’s breath, they die
and return to dust.
143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!
My strength is fading. 10
Do not reject me, 11
or I will join 12 those descending into the grave. 13
34:29 But if God 14 is quiet, who can condemn 15 him?
If he hides his face, then who can see him?
Yet 16 he is over the individual and the nation alike, 17
8:17 I will wait patiently for the Lord,
who has rejected the family of Jacob; 18
I will wait for him.
43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
when you pass 19 through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not harm 20 you.
43:1 Now, this is what the Lord says,
the one who created you, O Jacob,
and formed you, O Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect 21 you.
I call you by name, you are mine.
1 sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.
2 tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”
3 tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”
4 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
5 tn Or “[source of] help.”
6 tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
7 tn Or “quickly.”
8 tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”
9 tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”
10 tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”
11 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
12 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
13 tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.
16 tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).
17 tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”
18 tn Heb “who hides his face from the house of Jacob.”
19 tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
20 tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”
21 tn Or “redeem.” See the note at 41:14. Cf. NCV “saved you”; CEV “rescued you”; NLT “ransomed you.”
22 tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).