Psalms 119:61

119:61 The ropes of the wicked tighten around ¹  me,

but I do not forget your law.

Psalms 119:109

119:109 My life is in continual danger, ² 

but I do not forget your law.

Psalms 119:141

119:141 I am insignificant and despised,

yet I do not forget your precepts.

Psalms 119:83

119:83 For ³  I am like a wineskin ⁴  dried up in smoke. ⁵ 

I do not forget your statutes.

Psalms 119:153

ר (Resh)

119:153 See my pain and rescue me!

For I do not forget your law.

Psalms 102:4

102:4 My heart is parched ⁶  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ⁷  to eat food. ⁸ 

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ⁹ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

[119:61]  ¹ tn Heb “surround.”

[119:109]  ² tn Heb “my life [is] in my hands continually.”

[119:83]  ³ tn Or “even though.”

[119:83]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word נֹאד (no’d, “leather container”) refers to a container made from animal skin which is used to hold wine or milk (see Josh 9:4, 13; Judg 4:19; 1 Sam 16:20).

[119:83]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the smoke.”

[102:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ⁶ sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

[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).