Psalms 116:3

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ¹ 

the snares ²  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ³  with trouble and sorrow.

Psalms 116:2

116:2 and listened to me. ⁴ 

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ⁵ 

Psalms 22:5-6

22:5 To you they cried out, and they were saved;

in you they trusted and they were not disappointed. ⁶ 

22:6 But I ⁷  am a worm, ⁸  not a man; ⁹ 

people insult me and despise me. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 13:8

13:8 They panic –

cramps and pain seize hold of them

like those of a woman who is straining to give birth.

They look at one another in astonishment;

their faces are flushed red. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 53:3-4

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people, ¹² 

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him; ¹³ 

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ¹⁴ 

53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,

he carried our pain; ¹⁵ 

even though we thought he was being punished,

attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. ¹⁶ 

Matthew 26:38-39

26:38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” 26:39 Going a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground and prayed, ¹⁷  “My Father, if possible, ¹⁸  let this cup ¹⁹  pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:33-34

14:33 He took Peter, James, ²⁰  and John with him, and became very troubled and distressed. 14:34 He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay alert.”

Mark 14:2

14:2 For they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.” ²¹ 

Colossians 1:9

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ²²  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ²³  to fill ²⁴  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

[116:3]  ¹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ² tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ³ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[116:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”

[116:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”

[22:5]  ⁶ tn Or “were not ashamed.”

[22:6]  ⁷ tn The grammatical construction (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist’s experience and that of his ancestors. When he considers God’s past reliability, it only heightens his despair and confusion, for God’s present silence stands in stark contrast to his past saving acts.

[22:6]  ⁸ tn The metaphor expresses the psalmist’s self-perception, which is based on how others treat him (see the following line).

[22:6]  ⁹ tn Or “not a human being.” The psalmist perceives himself as less than human.

[22:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a reproach of man and despised by people.”

[13:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their faces are faces of flames.” Their faces are flushed with fear and embarrassment.

[53:3]  ¹² tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

[53:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “like a hiding of the face from him,” i.e., “like one before whom the face is hidden” (see BDB 712 s.v. מַסְתֵּר).

[53:3]  ¹⁴ sn The servant is likened to a seriously ill person who is shunned by others because of his horrible disease.

[53:4]  ¹⁵ sn Illness and pain stand by metonymy (or perhaps as metaphors) for sin and its effects, as vv. 11-12 make clear.

[53:4]  ¹⁶ tn The words “for something he had done” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The group now realizes he suffered because of his identification with them, not simply because he was a special target of divine anger.

[26:39]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “ground, praying and saying.” Here the participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[26:39]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “if it is possible.”

[26:39]  ¹⁹ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.

[14:33]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and James,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[14:2]  ²¹ sn The suggestion here is that Jesus was too popular to openly arrest him. The verb were trying is imperfect. It suggests, in this context, that they were always considering the opportunities.

[1:9]  ²² tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ²³ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.