Psalms 10:1

Psalm 10 ¹ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ² 

Psalms 10:11

10:11 He says to himself, ³ 

“God overlooks it;

he does not pay attention;

he never notices.” ⁴ 

Psalms 13:1

Psalm 13 ⁵ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ⁶ 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ⁷ 

Psalms 43:1-4

Psalm 43 ⁸ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ⁹  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ¹⁰  from deceitful and evil men! ¹¹ 

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ¹² 

Why do you reject me? ¹³ 

Why must I walk around ¹⁴  mourning ¹⁵ 

because my enemies oppress me?

43:3 Reveal ¹⁶  your light ¹⁷  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ¹⁸ 

they will escort ¹⁹  me back to your holy hill, ²⁰ 

and to the place where you live. ²¹ 

43:4 Then I will go ²²  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ²³ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ²⁴  O God, my God, with a harp.

Deuteronomy 32:20

32:20 He said, “I will reject them, ²⁵ 

I will see what will happen to them;

for they are a perverse generation,

children ²⁶  who show no loyalty.

Job 13:24

13:24 Why do you hide your face ²⁷ 

and regard me as your enemy?

[10:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ² tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:11]  ³ tn Heb “he says in his heart.” See v. 6.

[10:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “God forgets, he hides his face, he never sees.”

[13:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.

[13:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[43:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ⁹ tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[43:2]  ¹² tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ¹³ tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

[43:2]  ¹⁴ tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

[43:2]  ¹⁵ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[43:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “send.”

[43:3]  ¹⁷ sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

[43:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

[43:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “bring.”

[43:3]  ²⁰ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

[43:3]  ²¹ tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

[43:4]  ²² tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

[43:4]  ²³ tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[43:4]  ²⁴ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.

[32:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I will hide my face from them.”

[32:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “sons” (so NAB, NASB); TEV “unfaithful people.”

[13:24]  ²⁷ sn The anthropomorphism of “hide the face” indicates a withdrawal of favor and an outpouring of wrath (see Ps 30:7 [8]; Isa 54:8; Ps 27:9). Sometimes God “hides his face” to make himself invisible or aloof (see 34:29). In either case, if God covers his face it is because he considers Job an enemy – at least this is what Job thinks.