Job 10:2

10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn ¹  me;

tell me ²  why you are contending ³  with me.’

Job 29:2-3

29:2 “O that I could be ⁴  as ⁵  I was

in the months now gone, ⁶ 

in the days ⁷  when God watched ⁸  over me,

29:3 when ⁹  he caused ¹⁰  his lamp ¹¹ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ¹²  through darkness; ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 32:20

32:20 He said, “I will reject them, ¹⁴ 

I will see what will happen to them;

for they are a perverse generation,

children ¹⁵  who show no loyalty.

Psalms 10:1

Psalm 10 ¹⁶ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ¹⁷ 

Psalms 13:1

Psalm 13 ¹⁸ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ¹⁹ 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ²⁰ 

Psalms 44:24

44:24 Why do you look the other way, ²¹ 

and ignore ²²  the way we are oppressed and mistreated? ²³ 

Psalms 77:6-9

77:6 I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang;

I will think very carefully.”

I tried to make sense of what was happening. ²⁴ 

77:7 I asked, ²⁵  “Will the Lord reject me forever?

Will he never again show me his favor?

77:8 Has his loyal love disappeared forever?

Has his promise ²⁶  failed forever?

77:9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has his anger stifled his compassion?”

Psalms 88:14

88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me? ²⁷ 

Isaiah 8:17

8:17 I will wait patiently for the Lord,

who has rejected the family of Jacob; ²⁸ 

I will wait for him.

[10:2]  ¹ tn The negated jussive is the Hiphil jussive of רָשַׁע (rasha’); its meaning then would be literally “do not declare me guilty.” The negated jussive stresses the immediacy of the request.

[10:2]  ² tn The Hiphil imperative of יָדַע (yada’) would more literally be “cause me to know.” It is a plea for God to help him understand the afflictions.

[10:2]  ³ tn The verb is רִיב (riv), meaning “to dispute; to contend; to strive; to quarrel” – often in the legal sense. The precise words chosen in this verse show that the setting is legal. The imperfect verb here is progressive, expressing what is currently going on.

[29:2]  ⁴ tn The optative is here expressed with מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי (mi-yittÿneni, “who will give me”), meaning, “O that I [could be]…” (see GKC 477 §151.b).

[29:2]  ⁵ tn The preposition כּ (kaf) is used here in an expression describing the state desired, especially in the former time (see GKC 376 §118.u).

[29:2]  ⁶ tn The expression is literally “months of before [or of old; or past].” The word קֶדֶם (qedem) is intended here to be temporal and not spatial; it means days that preceded the present.

[29:2]  ⁷ tn The construct state (“days of”) governs the independent sentence that follows (see GKC 422 §130.d): “as the days of […] God used to watch over me.”

[29:2]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance – “when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”

[29:3]  ⁹ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

[29:3]  ¹⁰ tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”

[29:3]  ¹¹ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

[29:3]  ¹² tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

[29:3]  ¹³ tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[32:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”

[32:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”

[10:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[13:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.

[13:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[44:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “Why do you hide your face?” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[44:24]  ²² tn Or “forget.”

[44:24]  ²³ tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”

[77:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I will remember my song in the night, with my heart I will reflect. And my spirit searched.” As in v. 4, the words of v. 6a are understood as what the psalmist said earlier. Consequently the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 10). The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive at the beginning of the final line is taken as sequential to the perfect “I thought” in v. 6.

[77:7]  ²⁵ tn As in vv. 4 and 6a, the words of vv. 7-9 are understood as a quotation of what the psalmist said earlier. Therefore the words “I asked” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[77:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “word,” which may refer here to God’s word of promise (note the reference to “loyal love” in the preceding line).

[88:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”

[8:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “who hides his face from the house of Jacob.”