Psalms 50:14-15

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ¹ 

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ² 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ³ 

Psalms 66:17-20

66:17 I cried out to him for help ⁴ 

and praised him with my tongue. ⁵ 

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ⁶ 

the Lord would not have listened.

66:19 However, God heard;

he listened to my prayer.

66:20 God deserves praise, ⁷ 

for ⁸  he did not reject my prayer

or abandon his love for me! ⁹ 

Psalms 91:15

91:15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him when he is in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him honor.

Psalms 116:1

Psalm 116 ¹⁰ 

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy, ¹¹ 

Isaiah 58:9

58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;

you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’

You must ¹²  remove the burdensome yoke from among you

and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

Isaiah 58:1

The Lord Desires Genuine Devotion

58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!

Yell as loud as a trumpet!

Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; ¹³ 

confront Jacob’s family with their sin! ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 5:14-15

5:14 So Death ¹⁵  will open up its throat,

and open wide its mouth; ¹⁶ 

Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it,

including those who revel and celebrate within her. ¹⁷ 

5:15 Men will be humiliated,

they will be brought low;

the proud will be brought low. ¹⁸ 

[50:14]  ¹ 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.

[50:15]  ² tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ³ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[66:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”

[66:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.

[66:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[66:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[66:20]  ⁸ tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.

[66:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”

[116:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.

[116:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).

[58:9]  ¹² tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.

[58:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”

[58:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[5:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); the underworld, the land of the dead, according to the OT world view. Cf. NAB “the nether world”; TEV, CEV “the world of the dead”; NLT “the grave.”

[5:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so Sheol will make wide its throat, and open its mouth without limit.”

[5:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and her splendor and her masses will go down, and her tumult and the one who exults in her.” The antecedent of the four feminine singular pronominal suffixes used in v. 14b is unclear. The likely referent is personified Zion/Jerusalem (see 3:25-26; 4:4-5).

[5:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “men are brought down, men are brought low, the eyes of pride are brought low.”