Psalms 119:116-117

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, ¹  so that I will live. ² 

Do not disappoint me! ³ 

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus ⁴  on your statutes continually.

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ⁵ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

[119:116]  ¹ tn Heb “according to your word.”

[119:116]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:116]  ³ tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

[119:117]  ⁴ tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

[119:176]  ⁵ tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).