40:12 For innumerable dangers 1 surround me.
My sins overtake me
so I am unable to see;
they outnumber the hairs of my head
so my strength fails me. 2
69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help;
my throat is sore; 3
my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. 4
57:16 For I will not be hostile 5 forever
or perpetually angry,
for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, 6
the life-giving breath I created.
1 tn Or “sinful deeds.” The Hebrew term used here can have a nonmoral nuance (“dangers”) or a moral one (“sinful deeds”) depending on the context. The next line (see “my sins”) seems to favor the moral sense, but the psalmist also speaks of enemies shortly after this (v. 14).
2 tn Heb “and my heart abandons me.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of emotional strength and courage. For a similar idea see Ps 38:10.
3 tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”
4 tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.
5 tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
6 tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”
7 tn According to L&N 23.184 this could be mainly a psychological experience rather than actual loss of consciousness. It could also refer to complete discouragement because of fear, leading people to give up hope (L&N 25.293).
8 sn An allusion to Isa 34:4. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.