3:4 To the Lord I cried out, 1
and he answered me from his holy hill. 2 (Selah)
5:2 Pay attention to my cry for help,
my king and my God,
for I am praying to you!
22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,
but you do not answer,
and during the night my prayers do not let up. 3
For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.
77:1 I will cry out to God 5 and call for help!
I will cry out to God and he will pay attention 6 to me.
A well-written song 8 by David, when he was in the cave; 9 a prayer.
142:1 To the Lord I cry out; 10
to the Lord I plead for mercy. 11
1 tn The prefixed verbal form could be an imperfect, yielding the translation “I cry out,” but the verb form in the next line (a vav [ו] consecutive with the preterite) suggests this is a brief narrative of what has already happened. Consequently the verb form in v. 4a is better understood as a preterite, “I cried out.” (For another example of the preterite of this same verb form, see Ps 30:8.) Sometime after the crisis arose, the psalmist prayed to the Lord and received an assuring answer. Now he confidently awaits the fulfillment of the divine promise.
2 sn His holy hill. That is, Zion (see Pss 2:6; 48:1-2). The psalmist recognizes that the
3 tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”
4 sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.
5 tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.
6 tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).
7 sn Psalm 142. The psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.
8 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
9 sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57.
10 tn Heb “[with] my voice to the
11 tn Heb “[with] my voice to the