Psalms 119:77

119:77 May I experience your compassion, ¹  so I might live!

For I find delight in your law.

Psalms 119:156

119:156 Your compassion is great, O Lord.

Revive me, as you typically do! ² 

Psalms 25:6

25:6 Remember ³  your compassionate and faithful deeds, O Lord,

for you have always acted in this manner. ⁴ 

Psalms 40:11

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold ⁵  your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me! ⁶ 

Psalms 69:16

69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! ⁷ 

Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!

Psalms 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ⁸ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ⁹ 

for we are in serious trouble! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 51:1

Psalm 51 ¹¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ¹² 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ¹³  your loyal love!

Because of ¹⁴  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ¹⁵ 

[119:77]  ¹ tn Heb “and may your compassion come to me.”

[119:156]  ² tn Heb “according to your customs.”

[25:6]  ³ tn That is, “remember” with the intention of repeating.

[25:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “for from antiquity [are] they.”

[40:11]  ⁴ tn Some (cf. NIV, NRSV) translate the verb as a request (“do not withhold”), but elsewhere in the psalms the second masculine singular prefixed form, when addressed to God and preceded by לֹא (lo’), is always indicative in mood and never has the force of a prayer (see Pss 16:10; 22:2; 44:9 51:16-17; 60:10; 108:11; cf. NEB, NASB).

[40:11]  ⁵ tn In this line the psalmist makes the transition from confidence to petition (see v. 13). Since the prefixed verbal form in the preceding line is imperfect/indicative, one could take the verb in this line as imperfect as well and translate, “your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me” (cf. NEB). However, the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the next verse, if causal (“because”), is best understood as introducing a motivating argument in support of a petition. For this reason v. 11b is best taken as a prayer with the prefixed form being understood as jussive (cf. NIV, NRSV). For parallels to the proposed construction (jussive followed by כִּי + perfect introducing motivating argument), see Ps 25:21, as well as Pss 10:2-3; 22:8.

[69:16]  ⁵ tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”

[79:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[51:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ⁹ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”