Psalms 69:3

69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help;

my throat is sore; ¹ 

my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. ² 

Psalms 119:82

119:82 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your promise to be fulfilled. ³ 

I say, ⁴  “When will you comfort me?”

Psalms 119:123

119:123 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your deliverance, ⁵ 

for your reliable promise to be fulfilled. ⁶ 

Psalms 123:1-4

Psalm 123 ⁷ 

A song of ascents. ⁸ 

123:1 I look up ⁹  toward you,

the one enthroned ¹⁰  in heaven.

123:2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, ¹¹ 

so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.

123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!

For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. ¹² 

123:4 We have had our fill ¹³ 

of the taunts of the self-assured,

of the contempt of the proud.

Lamentations 4:17

The People of Jerusalem Lament:

ע (Ayin)

4:17 Our eyes continually failed us

as we looked in vain for help. ¹⁴ 

From our watchtowers we watched

for a nation that could not rescue us.

[69:3]  ¹ tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”

[69:3]  ² tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.

[119:82]  ³ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your word.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See Ps 69:3.

[119:82]  ⁴ tn Heb “saying.”

[119:123]  ⁵ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your deliverance.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See the similar phrase in v. 82.

[119:123]  ⁶ tn Heb “and for the word of your faithfulness.”

[123:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.

[123:1]  ⁸ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[123:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[123:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12).

[123:2]  ¹¹ sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.

[123:3]  ¹² tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”

[123:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”

[4:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Our eyes failed in vain for help.”