Psalms 44:23-26

44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Wake up! ¹  Do not reject us forever!

44:24 Why do you look the other way, ² 

and ignore ³  the way we are oppressed and mistreated? ⁴ 

44:25 For we lie in the dirt,

with our bellies pressed to the ground. ⁵ 

44:26 Rise up and help us!

Rescue us ⁶  because of your loyal love!

Psalms 74:9-11

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ⁷ 

there are no longer any prophets ⁸ 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ⁹ 

74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?

Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

74:11 Why do you remain inactive?

Intervene and destroy him! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 79:5

79:5 How long will this go on, O Lord? ¹¹ 

Will you stay angry forever?

How long will your rage ¹²  burn like fire?

Psalms 85:5-6

85:5 Will you stay mad at us forever?

Will you remain angry throughout future generations? ¹³ 

85:6 Will you not revive us once more?

Then your people will rejoice in you!

Psalms 102:13-14

102:13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion. ¹⁴ 

For it is time to have mercy on her,

for the appointed time has come.

102:14 Indeed, ¹⁵  your servants take delight in her stones,

and feel compassion for ¹⁶  the dust of her ruins. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 64:9-12

64:9 Lord, do not be too angry!

Do not hold our sins against us continually! ¹⁸ 

Take a good look at your people, at all of us! ¹⁹ 

64:10 Your chosen ²⁰  cities have become a desert;

Zion has become a desert,

Jerusalem ²¹  is a desolate ruin.

64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, ²² 

the place where our ancestors praised you,

has been burned with fire;

all our prized possessions have been destroyed. ²³ 

64:12 In light of all this, ²⁴  how can you still hold back, Lord?

How can you be silent and continue to humiliate us?

[44:23]  ¹ sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.

[44:24]  ² tn Heb “Why do you hide your face?” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[44:24]  ³ tn Or “forget.”

[44:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”

[44:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “for our being/life sinks down to the dirt, our belly clings to the earth.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[44:26]  ⁶ tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.

[74:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[74:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.

[79:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “How long, O Lord?”

[79:5]  ¹² tn Or “jealous anger.”

[85:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “Will your anger stretch to a generation and a generation?”

[102:13]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect verbal forms are understood as expressing the psalmist’s confidence in God’s intervention. Another option is to take them as expressing the psalmist’s request or wish, “You, rise up and have compassion!”

[102:14]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[102:14]  ¹⁶ tn The Poel of חָנַן (khanan) occurs only here and in Prov 14:21, where it refers to having compassion on the poor.

[102:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “her dust,” probably referring to the dust of the city’s rubble.

[64:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “do not remember sin continually.”

[64:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Look, gaze at your people, all of us.” Another option is to translate, “Take a good look! We are all your people.”

[64:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “holy” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT); NIV “sacred.”

[64:10]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[64:11]  ²² tn Heb “our source of pride.”

[64:11]  ²³ tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”

[64:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “because of these”; KJV, ASV “for these things.”