55:4 My heart beats violently 1 within me;
the horrors of death overcome me. 2
55:5 Fear and panic overpower me; 3
terror overwhelms 4 me.
61:2 From the most remote place on earth 5
I call out to you in my despair. 6
Lead me 7 up to an inaccessible rocky summit! 8
142:2 I pour out my lament before him;
I tell him about 9 my troubles.
142:3 Even when my strength leaves me, 10
you watch my footsteps. 11
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
143:4 My strength leaves me; 12
I am absolutely shocked. 13
143:5 I recall the old days; 14
I meditate on all you have done;
I reflect on your accomplishments. 15
1 tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”
2 tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”
3 tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”
4 tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.
5 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.” This may indicate (1) the psalmist is exiled in a distant land, or (2) it may be hyperbolic (the psalmist feels alienated from God’s presence, as if he were in a distant land).
6 tn Heb “while my heart faints.”
7 tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.
8 tn Heb “on to a rocky summit [that] is higher than I.”
9 tn Heb “my trouble before him I declare.”
10 tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”
11 tn Heb “you know my path.”
12 tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”
13 tn Heb “in my midst my heart is shocked.” For a similar use of the Hitpolel of שָׁמֵם (shamem), see Isa 59:16; 63:5.
14 tn Or “ancient times”; Heb “days from before.”
15 tn Heb “the work of your hands.”