Psalms 66:19

66:19 However, God heard;

he listened to my prayer.

Psalms 116:1-5

Psalm 116 ¹ 

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy, ² 

116:2 and listened to me. ³ 

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ⁴ 

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ⁵ 

the snares ⁶  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ⁷  with trouble and sorrow.

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;

our God is compassionate.

Psalms 118:5

118:5 In my distress ⁸  I cried out to the Lord.

The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. ⁹ 

Psalms 118:1

Psalm 118 ¹⁰ 

118:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good

and his loyal love endures! ¹¹ 

Psalms 5:1

Psalm 5 ¹² 

For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; ¹³  a psalm of David.

5:1 Listen to what I say, ¹⁴  Lord!

Carefully consider my complaint! ¹⁵ 

[116:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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).

[116:2]  ³ tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”

[116:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”

[116:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ⁷ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[118:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the distress.” The noun מֵצַר (metsar, “straits; distress”) occurs only here and in Lam 1:3. In Ps 116:3 מצר should probably be emended to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”).

[118:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord answered me in a wide open place.”

[118:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 118. The psalmist thanks God for his deliverance and urges others to join him in praise.

[118:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “is forever.”

[5:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 5. Appealing to God’s justice and commitment to the godly, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from evildoers.

[5:1]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word נְחִילוֹת (nÿkhilot), which occurs only here, is uncertain. Many relate the form to חָלִיל (khalil, “flute”).

[5:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my words.”

[5:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “sighing.” The word occurs only here and in Ps 39:3.