2 Kings 6:26-27

6:26 While the king of Israel was passing by on the city wall, a woman shouted to him, “Help us, my master, O king!” 6:27 He replied, “No, let the Lord help you. How can I help you? The threshing floor and winepress are empty.” ¹ 

Psalms 42:11

42:11 Why are you depressed, ²  O my soul? ³ 

Why are you upset? ⁴ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ⁵ 

[6:27]  ¹ tn Heb “From where can I help you, from the threshing floor or the winepress?” The rhetorical question expresses the king’s frustration. He has no grain or wine to give to the masses.

[42:11]  ² tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:11]  ³ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[42:11]  ⁵ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.