Matthew 9:27

Healing the Blind and Mute

9:27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, ¹  “Have mercy ²  on us, Son of David!” ³ 

Matthew 17:15

17:15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures ⁴  and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water.

Psalms 4:1

Psalm 4 ⁵ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.

4:1 When I call out, answer me,

O God who vindicates me! ⁶ 

Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. ⁷ 

Have mercy on me ⁸  and respond to ⁹  my prayer!

Psalms 6:2

6:2 Have mercy on me, ¹⁰  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ¹¹ 

Luke 17:13

17:13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy ¹²  on us.”

Luke 18:13

18:13 The tax collector, however, stood ¹³  far off and would not even look up ¹⁴  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ¹⁵  to me, sinner that I am!’ ¹⁶ 

[9:27]  ¹ tn Grk “shouting, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:27]  ² sn Have mercy on us is a request for healing. It is not owed to the men. They simply ask for God’s kind grace.

[9:27]  ³ sn There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).

[17:15]  ⁴ tn Grk “he is moonstruck,” possibly meaning “lunatic” (so NAB, NASB), although now the term is generally regarded as referring to some sort of seizure disorder such as epilepsy (L&N 23.169; BDAG 919 s.v. σεληνιάζομαι).

[4:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Or “show me favor.”

[4:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “hear.”

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[17:13]  ¹² sn “Have mercy on us” is a request to heal them (Luke 18:38-39; 16:24; Matt 9:27; 15:22; 17:15; 20:31-32; Mark 10:47-49).

[18:13]  ¹³ tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.

[18:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).

[18:13]  ¹⁵ tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).

[18:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.