Discovery BoxPsalms 22:1-2
ContextFor the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” 2 a psalm of David.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 3
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 4
22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,
but you do not answer,
and during the night my prayers do not let up. 5
Psalms 42:7-9
Context42:7 One deep stream calls out to another 6 at the sound of your waterfalls; 7
all your billows and waves overwhelm me. 8
42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, 9
and by night he gives me a song, 10
a prayer 11 to the living God.
42:9 I will pray 12 to God, my high ridge: 13
“Why do you ignore 14 me?
Why must I walk around mourning 15
because my enemies oppress me?”
Psalms 43:2-5
Context43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. 16
Why do you reject me? 17
Why must I walk around 18 mourning 19
because my enemies oppress me?
43:3 Reveal 20 your light 21 and your faithfulness!
They will lead me, 22
they will escort 23 me back to your holy hill, 24
and to the place where you live. 25
43:4 Then I will go 26 to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, 27
so that I express my thanks to you, 28 O God, my God, with a harp.
43:5 Why are you depressed, 29 O my soul? 30
Why are you upset? 31
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention. 32
Psalms 77:7-10
Context77:7 I asked, 33 “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 34 failed forever?
77:9 Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has his anger stifled his compassion?”
77:10 Then I said, “I am sickened by the thought
[22:1] 1 sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.
[22:1] 2 tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.
[22:1] 3 sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).
[22:1] 4 tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.
[22:2] 5 tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”
[42:7] 6 tn Heb “deep calls to deep.” The Hebrew noun תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) often refers to the deep sea, but here, where it is associated with Hermon, it probably refers to mountain streams. The word can be used of streams and rivers (see Deut 8:7; Ezek 31:4).
[42:7] 7 tn The noun צִנּוֹר (tsinnor, “waterfall”) occurs only here and in 2 Sam 5:8, where it apparently refers to a water shaft. The psalmist alludes to the loud rushing sound of mountain streams and cascading waterfalls. Using the poetic device of personification, he imagines the streams calling out to each other as they hear the sound of the waterfalls.
[42:7] 8 tn Heb “pass over me” (see Jonah 2:3). As he hears the sound of the rushing water, the psalmist imagines himself engulfed in the current. By implication he likens his emotional distress to such an experience.
[42:8] 9 sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the
[42:8] 10 tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”
[42:8] 11 tc A few medieval Hebrew
[42:9] 12 tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.
[42:9] 13 tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.
[42:9] 15 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.
[43:2] 16 tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.
[43:2] 17 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] 18 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] 19 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.
[43:3] 21 sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.
[43:3] 22 tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.
[43:3] 24 sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.
[43:3] 25 tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the
[43:4] 26 tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”
[43:4] 27 tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
[43:4] 28 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.
[43:5] 29 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
[43:5] 30 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
[43:5] 31 tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”
[43:5] 32 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 identical to the one in Ps 42:11. See also 42:5, which differs only slightly.
[77:7] 33 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] 34 tn Heb “word,” which may refer here to God’s word of promise (note the reference to “loyal love” in the preceding line).
[77:10] 35 tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.
[77:10] 36 tc Heb “And I said, ‘This is my wounding, the changing of the right hand of the Most High.’” The form חַלּוֹתִי (khallotiy) appears to be a Qal infinitive construct (with a first person singular pronominal suffix) from the verbal root חָלַל (khalal, “to pierce; to wound”). The present translation assumes an emendation to חֲלוֹתִי (khalotiy), a Qal infinitive construct (with a first person singular pronominal suffix) from the verbal root חָלָה (khalah, “be sick, weak”). The form שְׁנוֹת (shÿnot) is understood as a Qal infinitive construct from שָׁנָה (shanah, “to change”) rather than a plural noun form, “years” (see v. 5). “Right hand” here symbolizes by metonymy God’s power and activity. The psalmist observes that his real problem is theological in nature. His experience suggests that the sovereign Lord has abandoned him and become inactive. However, this goes against the grain of his most cherished beliefs.
