Psalms 13:1

Psalm 13 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ² 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ³ 

Psalms 27:9

27:9 Do not reject me! ⁴ 

Do not push your servant away in anger!

You are my deliverer! ⁵ 

Do not forsake or abandon me,

O God who vindicates me!

Psalms 31:11

31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; ⁶ 

my neighbors are appalled by my suffering ⁷  –

those who know me are horrified by my condition; ⁸ 

those who see me in the street run away from me.

Psalms 102:2

102:2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble! ⁹ 

Listen to me! ¹⁰ 

When I call out to you, quickly answer me!

Psalms 131:1

Psalm 131 ¹¹ 

A song of ascents, ¹²  by David.

131:1 O Lord, my heart is not proud,

nor do I have a haughty look. ¹³ 

I do not have great aspirations,

or concern myself with things that are beyond me. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 142:4

142:4 Look to the right and see!

No one cares about me. ¹⁵ 

I have nowhere to run; ¹⁶ 

no one is concerned about my life. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 143:7

143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!

My strength is fading. ¹⁸ 

Do not reject me, ¹⁹ 

or I will join ²⁰  those descending into the grave. ²¹ 

[13:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.

[13:1]  ² tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ³ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[27:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[27:9]  ⁵ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[31:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”

[31:11]  ⁸ tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).

[31:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”

[102:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble.” The idiom “to hide the face” can mean “to ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “to reject” (see Pss 29:7; 30:7; 88:14).

[102:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[131:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 131. The psalmist affirms his humble dependence on the Lord and urges Israel to place its trust in God.

[131:1]  ¹⁴ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[131:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and my eyes are not lifted up.”

[131:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I do not walk in great things, and in things too marvelous for me.”

[142:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

[142:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

[142:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”

[143:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”

[143:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[143:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[143:7]  ²² tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.