44:20 If we had rejected our God, 1
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, 2
88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.
I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;
I spread out my hands in prayer to you. 3
143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; 4
my soul thirsts for you in a parched 5 land. 6
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!
For the music director, according to the gittith style; 9 a psalm of David.
8:1 O Lord, our Lord, 10
how magnificent 11 is your reputation 12 throughout the earth!
You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! 13
1 tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the
2 tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).
3 tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.
4 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
5 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
6 tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
7 sn Psalm 143. As in the previous psalm, the psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.
8 sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.
9 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.
10 tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the
11 tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”
12 tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
13 tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.