Job 9:18

9:18 He does not allow ¹  me to recover ²  my breath,

for he fills ³  me with bitterness.

Psalms 6:3

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ⁴ 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ⁵ 

Psalms 13:1-3

Psalm 13 ⁶ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ⁷ 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ⁸ 

13:2 How long must I worry, ⁹ 

and suffer in broad daylight? ¹⁰ 

How long will my enemy gloat over me? ¹¹ 

13:3 Look at me! ¹²  Answer me, O Lord my God!

Revive me, ¹³  or else I will die! ¹⁴ 

Psalms 94:3

94:3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,

how long will the wicked celebrate? ¹⁵ 

Revelation 6:10

6:10 They ¹⁶  cried out with a loud voice, ¹⁷  “How long, ¹⁸  Sovereign Master, ¹⁹  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

[9:18]  ¹ tn The verb נָתַן (natan) essentially means “to give”; but followed by the infinitive (without the ל [lamed] here) it means “to permit; to allow.”

[9:18]  ² tn The Hiphil of the verb means “to bring back”; with the object “my breath,” it means “get my breath” or simply “breathe.” The infinitive is here functioning as the object of the verb (see GKC 350 §114.m).

[9:18]  ³ sn The meaning of the word is “to satiate; to fill,” as in “drink to the full, be satisfied.” Job is satiated – in the negative sense – with bitterness. There is no room for more.

[6:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[13:1]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[13:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “How long will I put counsel in my being?”

[13:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[with] grief in my heart by day.”

[13:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “be exalted over me.” Perhaps one could translate, “How long will my enemy defeat me?”

[13:3]  ¹² tn Heb “see.”

[13:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “Give light [to] my eyes.” The Hiphil of אוּר (’ur), when used elsewhere with “eyes” as object, refers to the law of God giving moral enlightenment (Ps 19:8), to God the creator giving literal eyesight to all people (Prov 29:13), and to God giving encouragement to his people (Ezra 9:8). Here the psalmist pictures himself as being on the verge of death. His eyes are falling shut and, if God does not intervene soon, he will “fall asleep” for good.

[13:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “or else I will sleep [in?] the death.” Perhaps the statement is elliptical, “I will sleep [the sleep] of death,” or “I will sleep [with the sleepers in] death.”

[94:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “exult.”

[6:10]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[6:10]  ¹⁸ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

[6:10]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).