Psalms 17:2

17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! ¹ 

Decide what is right! ² 

Psalms 31:1

Psalm 31 ³ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

31:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Vindicate me by rescuing me! ⁴ 

Psalms 34:15

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ⁵ 

Psalms 43:1

Psalm 43 ⁶ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ⁷  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ⁸  from deceitful and evil men! ⁹ 

Psalms 143:1

Psalm 143 ¹⁰ 

A psalm of David.

143:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!

Pay attention to my plea for help!

Because of your faithfulness and justice, answer me!

Psalms 143:11

143:11 O Lord, for the sake of your reputation, ¹¹  revive me! ¹² 

Because of your justice, rescue me from trouble! ¹³ 

Daniel 9:16

9:16 O Lord, according to all your justice, ¹⁴  please turn your raging anger ¹⁵  away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. For due to our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people are mocked by all our neighbors.

¹ tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.

² tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)

³ sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him.

⁴ tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”

⁵ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

⁶ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

⁷ tn Or “argue my case.”

⁸ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

⁹ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

¹⁰ sn Psalm 143. As in the previous psalm, the psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

¹¹ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

¹² tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 11-12a are understood as expressing the psalmist’s desire. Note the petitionary tone of vv. 7-10a.

¹³ tn Heb “by your justice bring out my life from trouble.”

¹⁴ tn Or “righteousness.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “your anger and your rage.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of God’s anger. This is best expressed in English by making one of the terms adjectival (cf. NLT “your furious anger”; CEV “terribly angry”).