90:12 So teach us to consider our mortality, 1
so that we might live wisely. 2
119:84 How long must your servant endure this? 3
When will you judge those who pursue me?
14:13 “O that 4 you would hide me in Sheol, 5
and conceal me till your anger has passed! 6
O that you would set me a time 7
and then remember me! 8
1 tn Heb “to number our days,” that is, to be aware of how few they really are.
2 tn Heb “and we will bring a heart of wisdom.” After the imperative of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates purpose/result. The Hebrew term “heart” here refers to the center of one’s thoughts, volition, and moral character.
3 tn Heb “How long are the days of your servant?”
4 tn The optative mood is introduced here again with מִי יִתֵּן (mi yitten), literally, “who will give?”
5 sn Sheol in the Bible refers to the place where the dead go. But it can have different categories of meaning: death in general, the grave, or the realm of the departed spirits [hell]. A. Heidel shows that in the Bible when hell is in view the righteous are not there – it is the realm of the departed spirits of the wicked. When the righteous go to Sheol, the meaning is usually the grave or death. See chapter 3 in A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and the Old Testament Parallels.
6 tn The construction used here is the preposition followed by the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive, forming an adverbial clause of time.
7 tn This is the same word used in v. 5 for “limit.”
8 tn The verb זָכַר (zakhar) means more than simply “to remember.” In many cases, including this one, it means “to act on what is remembered,” i.e., deliver or rescue (see Gen 8:1, “and God remembered Noah”). In this sense, a prayer “remember me” is a prayer for God to act upon his covenant promises.