Psalms 102:5

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. ¹ 

Psalms 44:16

44:16 before the vindictive enemy

who ridicules and insults me. ² 

Psalms 55:3

55:3 because of what the enemy says, ³ 

and because of how the wicked ⁴  pressure me, ⁵ 

for they hurl trouble ⁶  down upon me ⁷ 

and angrily attack me.

[102:5]  ¹ tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.

[44:16]  ² tn Heb “from the voice of one who ridicules and insults, from the face of an enemy and an avenger.” See Ps 8:2.

[55:3]  ³ tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”

[55:3]  ⁴ tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.

[55:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).

[55:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.

[55:3]  ⁷ tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).