Psalms 32:2-6

32:2 How blessed is the one ¹  whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish, ² 

in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ 

32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, ⁴ 

my whole body wasted away, ⁵ 

while I groaned in pain all day long.

32:4 For day and night you tormented me; ⁶ 

you tried to destroy me ⁷  in the intense heat ⁸  of summer. ⁹  (Selah)

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹⁰  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹¹  (Selah)

32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers ¹²  should pray to you

while there is a window of opportunity. ¹³ 

Certainly ¹⁴  when the surging water ¹⁵  rises,

it will not reach them. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 142:1-2

Psalm 142 ¹⁷ 

A well-written song ¹⁸  by David, when he was in the cave; ¹⁹  a prayer.

142:1 To the Lord I cry out; ²⁰ 

to the Lord I plead for mercy. ²¹ 

142:2 I pour out my lament before him;

I tell him about ²²  my troubles.

Proverbs 14:10

14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, ²³ 

and with its joy no one else ²⁴  can share. ²⁵ 

[32:2]  ¹ tn Heb “man.” The word choice reflects the perspective of the psalmist, who is male. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender and age specific “man” has been translated with the more neutral “one.”

[32:2]  ² tn Heb “blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord does not impute wrongdoing.”

[32:2]  ³ sn In whose spirit there is no deceit. The point is not that the individual is sinless and pure. In this context, which focuses on confession and forgiveness of sin, the psalmist refers to one who refuses to deny or hide his sin, but instead honestly confesses it to God.

[32:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “when I was silent.”

[32:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

[32:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “your hand was heavy upon me.”

[32:4]  ⁷ tc Heb “my [?] was turned.” The meaning of the Hebrew term לְשַׁד (lÿshad) is uncertain. A noun לָשָׁד (lashad, “cake”) is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לְשֻׁדִּי (lÿshuddiy, “to my destruction”) and understand “your hand” as the subject of the verb “was turned.” In this case the text reads, “[your hand] was turned to my destruction.” In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God’s “hand” was “turned” (הָפַךְ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense.

[32:4]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, “in the times of drought.”

[32:4]  ⁹ sn Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.

[32:5]  ¹⁰ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[32:6]  ¹² tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[32:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the Lord]” and seek his forgiveness (cf. NIV). Some emend the text by combining מְצֹא (mÿtso’, “finding”) with the following term רַק (raq, “only, surely”) and read either ר[וֹ]מָצ (matsor, “distress”; see Ps 31:22) or ק[וֹ]מָצ (matsoq, “hardship”; see Ps 119:143). In this case, one may translate “in a time of distress/hardship” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[32:6]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.

[32:6]  ¹⁵ sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.

[32:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.

[142:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 142. The psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

[142:1]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[142:1]  ¹⁹ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57.

[142:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I cry out.”

[142:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I plead for mercy.”

[142:2]  ²² tn Heb “my trouble before him I declare.”

[14:10]  ²³ tn Heb “bitterness of its soul.”

[14:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “stranger” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[14:10]  ²⁵ tn The verb is the Hitpael of II עָרַב (’arav), which means “to take in pledge; to give in pledge; to exchange.” Here it means “to share [in].” The proverb is saying that there are joys and sorrows that cannot be shared. No one can truly understand the deepest feelings of another.