Psalms 72:12

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ¹  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ²  who have no defender.

Psalms 142:4-6

142:4 Look to the right and see!

No one cares about me. ³ 

I have nowhere to run; ⁴ 

no one is concerned about my life. ⁵ 

142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my shelter,

my security ⁶  in the land of the living.”

142:6 Listen to my cry for help,

for I am in serious trouble! ⁷ 

Rescue me from those who chase me,

for they are stronger than I am.

Deuteronomy 32:36

32:36 The Lord will judge his people,

and will change his plans concerning ⁸  his servants;

when he sees that their power has disappeared,

and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

Matthew 26:56

26:56 But this has happened so that ⁹  the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Matthew 26:72

26:72 He denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!”

Matthew 26:74

26:74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

² tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

³ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

⁴ tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

⁵ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”

⁶ tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

⁷ tn Heb “for I am very low.”

⁸ tn The translation understands the verb in the sense of “be grieved, relent” (cf. HALOT 689 s.v. נחם hitp 2); cf. KJV, ASV “repent himself”; NLT “will change his mind.” Another option is to translate “will show compassion to” (see BDB 637 s.v. נחם); cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV.

⁹ tn Grk “But so that”; the verb “has happened” is implied.

¹⁰ tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some mss [Ì^37vid,45 ˹] in Matt 26:34) which would have been sounded at 3 a.m.; in this case Jesus would have prophesied a precise time by which the denials would have taken place. For more details see J. H. Bernard, St. John (ICC), 2:604. However, in light of the fact that Mark mentions the rooster crowing twice (Mark 14:72) and in Luke 22:60 the words are reversed (ἐφώνησεν ἀλέκτωρ, efwnhsen alektwr), it is more probable that a real rooster is in view. In any event natural cockcrow would have occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in Palestine at this time of year (March-April) anyway.