37:15 Their swords will pierce 1 their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
119:170 Listen to my appeal for mercy! 2
Deliver me, as you promised. 3
88:2 Listen to my prayer! 4
Pay attention 5 to my cry for help!
49:19 But he will join his ancestors; 6
they will never again see the light of day. 7
79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! 8
Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! 9
101:2 I will walk in 10 the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will conduct my business with integrity in the midst of my palace. 11
143:2 Do not sit in judgment on 12 your servant,
for no one alive is innocent before you. 13
18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried out to my God. 14
From his heavenly temple 15 he heard my voice;
he listened to my cry for help. 16
The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.
102:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!
Pay attention to my cry for help! 18
1 tn Heb “enter into.”
2 tn Heb “may my appeal for mercy come before you.”
3 tn Heb “according to your speech.”
3 tn Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.
4 tn Heb “turn your ear.”
4 tn Verses 18-19a are one long sentence in the Hebrew text, which reads: “Though he blesses his soul in his life, [saying], ‘And let them praise you, for you do well for yourself,’ it [that is, his soul] will go to the generation of his fathers.” This has been divided into two sentences in the translation for clarity, in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.
5 tn Heb “light.” The words “of day” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”
6 tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.
6 tn Heb “take notice of.”
7 tn Heb “I will walk about in the integrity of my heart in the midst of my house.”
7 tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”
8 tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”
8 tn In this poetic narrative context the four prefixed verbal forms in v. 6 are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.
9 tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly temple is in view, not the earthly one.
10 tc Heb “and my cry for help before him came into his ears.” 2 Sam 22:7 has a shorter reading, “my cry for help, in his ears.” It is likely that Ps 18:6 MT as it now stands represents a conflation of two readings: (1) “my cry for help came before him,” (2) “my cry for help came into his ears.” See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 144, n. 13.
9 sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.
10 tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”