Psalms 10:17

10:17 Lord, you have heard ¹  the request ²  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ³ 

Psalms 34:15

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ⁴ 

Psalms 49:4

49:4 I will learn a song that imparts wisdom;

I will then sing my insightful song to the accompaniment of a harp. ⁵ 

Psalms 71:2

71:2 Vindicate me by rescuing me! ⁶ 

Listen to me! ⁷  Deliver me! ⁸ 

Psalms 88:2

88:2 Listen to my prayer! ⁹ 

Pay attention ¹⁰  to my cry for help!

Psalms 115:6

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

Psalms 130:2

130:2 O Lord, listen to me! ¹¹ 

Pay attention to ¹²  my plea for mercy!

[10:17]  ¹ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ² tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ³ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[34:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

[49:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will turn my ear to a wise saying, I will open [i.e., “reveal; explain”] my insightful saying with a harp.” In the first line the psalmist speaks as a pupil who learns a song of wisdom from a sage. This suggests that the resulting insightful song derives from another source, perhaps God himself. Elsewhere the Hebrew word pair חִידָה/מָשָׁל (mashal/khidah) refers to a taunt song (Hab 2:6), a parable (Ezek 17:2), lessons from history (Ps 78:2), and proverbial sayings (Prov 1:6). Here it appears to refer to the insightful song that follows, which reflects on the mortality of humankind and the ultimate inability of riches to prevent the inevitable – death. Another option is that the word pair refers more specifically to the closely related proverbial sayings of vv. 12, 20 (note the use of the verb מָשָׁל, mashal, “to be like” in both verses). In this case the psalmist first hears the sayings and then explains (Heb “opens”) their significance (see vv. 5-11, 13-19).

[71:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me and deliver me.” Ps 31:1 omits “and deliver me.”

[71:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[71:2]  ¹² tn Ps 31:2 adds “quickly” before “deliver.”

[88:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.

[88:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[130:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my voice.”

[130:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “may your ears be attentive to the voice of.”