9:12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; 1
he did not overlook 2 their cry for help 3
9:13 when they prayed: 4
“Have mercy on me, 5 Lord!
See how I am oppressed by those who hate me, 6
O one who can snatch me away 7 from the gates of death!
1 tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “did not forget.”
3 tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.
4 tn The words “when they prayed,” though not represented in the Hebrew text, are supplied in the translation for clarification. The petition in vv. 13-14 is best understood as the cry for help which the oppressed offered to God when the nations threatened. The
5 tn Or “show me favor.”
6 tn Heb “see my misery from the ones who hate me.”
7 tn Heb “one who lifts me up.”