Psalms 102:13-14

102:13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion. ¹ 

For it is time to have mercy on her,

for the appointed time has come.

102:14 Indeed, ²  your servants take delight in her stones,

and feel compassion for ³  the dust of her ruins. ⁴ 

Psalms 137:5-6

137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand be crippled! ⁵ 

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ⁶ 

Nehemiah 2:10

2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official ⁷  heard all this, they were very displeased that someone had come to seek benefit for the Israelites.

Nehemiah 13:14

13:14 Please remember me for this, O my God, and do not wipe out the kindness that I have done for the temple of my God and for its services!

[102:13]  ¹ tn The imperfect verbal forms are understood as expressing the psalmist’s confidence in God’s intervention. Another option is to take them as expressing the psalmist’s request or wish, “You, rise up and have compassion!”

[102:14]  ² tn Or “for.”

[102:14]  ³ tn The Poel of חָנַן (khanan) occurs only here and in Prov 14:21, where it refers to having compassion on the poor.

[102:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “her dust,” probably referring to the dust of the city’s rubble.

[137:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “may my right hand forget.” In this case one must supply an object, such as “how to move.” The elliptical nature of the text has prompted emendations (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 236). The translation assumes an emendation to תִּכְשַׁח (tikhshakh), from an otherwise unattested root כשׁח, meaning “to be crippled; to be lame.” See HALOT 502 s.v. כשׁח, which cites Arabic cognate evidence in support of the proposal. The corruption of the MT can be explained as an error of transposition facilitated by the use of שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”) just before this.

[137:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”

[2:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “servant” (so KJV, ASV; NAB “slave”; NCV “officer.” This phrase also occurs in v. 19.