Job 24:12

24:12 From the city the dying ¹  groan,

and the wounded ²  cry out for help,

but God charges no one with wrongdoing. ³ 

Job 34:28

34:28 so that they caused ⁴  the cry of the poor

to come before him,

so that he hears ⁵  the cry of the needy.

Exodus 2:23

The Call of the Deliverer

2:23 ⁶ During ⁷  that long period of time ⁸  the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites ⁹  groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry ¹⁰  because of their slave labor went up to God.

Exodus 3:7

3:7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen ¹¹  the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ¹² 

Exodus 3:9

3:9 And now indeed ¹³  the cry ¹⁴  of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁵ 

Nehemiah 5:1-5

Nehemiah Intervenes on behalf of the Oppressed

5:1 Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. ¹⁶  5:2 There were those who said, “With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain ¹⁷  grain in order to eat and stay alive.” 5:3 There were others who said, “We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine.” 5:4 Then there were those who said, “We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king ¹⁸  on our fields and our vineyards. 5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ¹⁹  and our children are just like their children, ²⁰  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ²¹  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ²²  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ²³ 

Psalms 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ²⁴ 

because of the painful cries ²⁵  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ²⁶  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ²⁷ 

Psalms 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ²⁸ 

Why do you reject me? ²⁹ 

Why must I walk around ³⁰  mourning ³¹ 

because my enemies oppress me?

Psalms 55:2-3

55:2 Pay attention to me and answer me!

I am so upset ³²  and distressed, ³³  I am beside myself, ³⁴ 

55:3 because of what the enemy says, ³⁵ 

and because of how the wicked ³⁶  pressure me, ³⁷ 

for they hurl trouble ³⁸  down upon me ³⁹ 

and angrily attack me.

Psalms 56:1-2

Psalm 56 ⁴⁰ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ⁴¹  a prayer ⁴²  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ⁴³ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ⁴⁴ 

All day long hostile enemies ⁴⁵  are tormenting me. ⁴⁶ 

56:2 Those who anticipate my defeat ⁴⁷  attack me all day long.

Indeed, ⁴⁸  many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. ⁴⁹ 

Luke 18:3-7

18:3 There was also a widow ⁵⁰  in that city ⁵¹  who kept coming ⁵²  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 18:4 For ⁵³  a while he refused, but later on ⁵⁴  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ⁵⁵  18:5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out ⁵⁶  by her unending pleas.’” ⁵⁷  18:6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! ⁵⁸  18:7 Won’t ⁵⁹  God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out ⁶⁰  to him day and night? ⁶¹  Will he delay ⁶²  long to help them?

[24:12]  ¹ tc The MT as pointed reads “from the city of men they groan.” Most commentators change one vowel in מְתִים (mÿtim) to get מֵתִים (metim) to get the active participle, “the dying.” This certainly fits the parallelism better, although sense could be made out of the MT.

[24:12]  ² tn Heb “the souls of the wounded,” which here refers to the wounded themselves.

[24:12]  ³ tc The MT has the noun תִּפְלָה (tiflah) which means “folly; tastelessness” (cf. 1:22). The verb, which normally means “to place; to put,” would then be rendered “to impute; to charge.” This is certainly a workable translation in the context. Many commentators have emended the text, changing the noun to תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”), and so then also the verb יָשִׂים (yasim, here “charges”) to יִשְׁמַע (yishma’, “hears”). It reads: “But God does not hear the prayer” – referring to the groans.

[34:28]  ⁴ tn The verse begins with the infinitive construct of בּוֹא (bo’, “go”), showing the result of their impious actions.

[34:28]  ⁵ tn The verb here is an imperfect; the clause is circumstantial to the preceding clause, showing either the result, or the concomitant action.

[2:23]  ⁶ sn The next section of the book is often referred to as the “Call of Moses,” and that is certainly true. But it is much more than that. It is the divine preparation of the servant of God, a servant who already knew what his destiny was. In this section Moses is shown how his destiny will be accomplished. It will be accomplished because the divine presence will guarantee the power, and the promise of that presence comes with the important “I AM” revelation. The message that comes through in this, and other “I will be with you” passages, is that when the promise of God’s presence is correctly appropriated by faith, the servant of God can begin to build confidence for the task that lies ahead. It will no longer be, “Who am I that I should go?” but “I AM with you” that matters. The first little section, 2:23-25, serves as a transition and introduction, for it records the Lord’s response to Israel in her affliction. The second part is the revelation to Moses at the burning bush (3:1-10), which is one of the most significant theological sections in the Torah. Finally, the record of Moses’ response to the call with his objections (3:11-22), makes up the third part, and in a way, is a transition to the next section, where God supplies proof of his power.

[2:23]  ⁷ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “And it was” (cf. KJV, ASV “And it came to pass”). This has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[2:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “in those many days.”

[2:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sons of Israel.”

[2:23]  ¹⁰ tn “They cried out” is from זָעַק (za’aq), and “desperate cry” is from שַׁוְעָה (shava’h).

[3:7]  ¹¹ tn The use of the infinitive absolute with the perfect tense intensifies the statement: I have surely seen – there is no doubt that I have seen and will do something about it.

[3:7]  ¹² sn Two new words are introduced now to the report of suffering: “affliction” and “pain/suffering.” These add to the dimension of the oppression of God’s people.

[3:9]  ¹³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses attention on what is being said as grounds for what follows.

[3:9]  ¹⁴ tn The word is a technical term for the outcry one might make to a judge. God had seen the oppression and so knew that the complaints were accurate, and so he initiated the proceedings against the oppressors (B. Jacob, Exodus, 59).

[3:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.” The word for the oppression is now לַחַץ (lakhats), which has the idea of pressure with the oppression – squeezing, pressuring – which led to its later use in the Semitic languages for torture. The repetition in the Hebrew text of the root in the participle form after this noun serves to stress the idea. This emphasis has been represented in the translation by the expression “seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.”

[5:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their brothers the Jews.”

[5:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “take” (so also in v. 3).

[5:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for the tax of the king.”

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ²² tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ²³ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[12:5]  ²⁴ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ²⁵ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[43:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ²⁹ tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

[43:2]  ³⁰ tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

[43:2]  ³¹ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[55:2]  ³² tn Or “restless” (see Gen 27:40). The Hiphil is intransitive-exhibitive, indicating the outward display of an inner attitude.

[55:2]  ³³ tn Heb “in my complaint.”

[55:2]  ³⁴ tn The verb is a Hiphil cohortative from הוּם (hum), which means “to confuse someone” in the Qal and “to go wild” in the Niphal. An Arabic cognate means “to be out of one’s senses, to wander about.” With the vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, the cohortative probably indicates the result or effect of the preceding main verb. Some prefer to emend the form to וְאֵהוֹמָה (vÿ’ehomah), a Niphal of הוּם (hum), or to וְאֶהַמֶה (vÿ’ehameh), a Qal imperfect from הָמָה (hamah, “to moan”). Many also prefer to take this verb with what follows (see v. 3).

[55:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”

[55:3]  ³⁶ tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.

[55:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).

[55:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.

[55:3]  ³⁹ tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).

[56:1]  ⁴⁰ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ⁴¹ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ⁴² tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ⁴³ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ⁴⁴ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ⁴⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.

[56:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 59:10.

[56:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “for.”

[56:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Some take the Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “on high; above”) as an adverb modifying the preceding participle and translate, “proudly” (cf. NASB; NIV “in their pride”). The present translation assumes the term is a divine title here. The Lord is pictured as enthroned “on high” in Ps 92:8. (Note the substantival use of the term in Isa 24:4 and see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:34), who prefer to place the term at the beginning of the next verse.)

[18:3]  ⁵⁰ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

[18:3]  ⁵¹ tn Or “town.”

[18:3]  ⁵² tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

[18:4]  ⁵³ tn Grk “And for.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “after these things.”

[18:4]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:5]  ⁵⁶ tn The term ὑπωπιάζω (Jupwpiazw) in this context means “to wear someone out by continual annoying” (L&N 25.245).

[18:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “by her continual coming,” but the point of annoyance to the judge is her constant pleas for justice (v. 3).

[18:6]  ⁵⁸ sn Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! The point of the parable is that the judge’s lack of compassion was overcome by the widow’s persistence.

[18:7]  ⁵⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:7]  ⁶⁰ sn The prayers have to do with the righteous who cry out to him to receive justice. The context assumes the righteous are persecuted.

[18:7]  ⁶¹ tn The emphatic particles in this sentence indicate that God will indeed give justice to the righteous.

[18:7]  ⁶² sn The issue of delay has produced a whole host of views for this verse. (1) Does this assume provision to endure in the meantime? Or (2) does it mean God restricts the level of persecution until he comes? Either view is possible.