Psalms 13:2-4

13:2 How long must I worry, ¹ 

and suffer in broad daylight? ² 

How long will my enemy gloat over me? ³ 

13:3 Look at me! ⁴  Answer me, O Lord my God!

Revive me, ⁵  or else I will die! ⁶ 

13:4 Then ⁷  my enemy will say, “I have defeated him!”

Then ⁸  my foes will rejoice because I am upended.

Psalms 35:19-25

35:19 Do not let those who are my enemies for no reason ⁹  gloat ¹⁰  over me!

Do not let those who hate me without cause carry out their wicked schemes! ¹¹ 

35:20 For they do not try to make peace with others, ¹² 

but plan ways to deceive those who are unsuspecting. ¹³ 

35:21 They are ready to devour me; ¹⁴ 

they say, “Aha! Aha! We’ve got you!” ¹⁵ 

35:22 But you take notice, ¹⁶  Lord!

O Lord, do not remain far away from me!

35:23 Rouse yourself, wake up ¹⁷  and vindicate me! ¹⁸ 

My God and Lord, defend my just cause! ¹⁹ 

35:24 Vindicate me by your justice, O Lord my God!

Do not let them gloat ²⁰  over me!

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ²¹  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ²² 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

Psalms 41:11

41:11 By this ²³  I know that you are pleased with me,

for my enemy does ²⁴  not triumph ²⁵  over me.

Psalms 56:1

Psalm 56 ²⁶ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ²⁷  a prayer ²⁸  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ²⁹ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ³⁰ 

All day long hostile enemies ³¹  are tormenting me. ³² 

Psalms 94:3

94:3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,

how long will the wicked celebrate? ³³ 

Psalms 142:6

142:6 Listen to my cry for help,

for I am in serious trouble! ³⁴ 

Rescue me from those who chase me,

for they are stronger than I am.

Isaiah 36:14-20

36:14 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you! 36:15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” 36:16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ³⁵  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, 36:17 until I come and take you to a land just like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 36:18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ³⁶  36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ³⁷  Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria ³⁸  from my power? ³⁹  36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands have rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’” ⁴⁰ 

Isaiah 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 37:20

37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ⁴¹ 

Isaiah 37:35

37:35 I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.”’” ⁴² 

[13:2]  ¹ tn Heb “How long will I put counsel in my being?”

[13:2]  ² tn Heb “[with] grief in my heart by day.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “be exalted over me.” Perhaps one could translate, “How long will my enemy defeat me?”

[13:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[13:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Give light [to] my eyes.” The Hiphil of אוּר (’ur), when used elsewhere with “eyes” as object, refers to the law of God giving moral enlightenment (Ps 19:8), to God the creator giving literal eyesight to all people (Prov 29:13), and to God giving encouragement to his people (Ezra 9:8). Here the psalmist pictures himself as being on the verge of death. His eyes are falling shut and, if God does not intervene soon, he will “fall asleep” for good.

[13:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “or else I will sleep [in?] the death.” Perhaps the statement is elliptical, “I will sleep [the sleep] of death,” or “I will sleep [with the sleepers in] death.”

[13:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “or else.”

[13:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “or else.”

[35:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Ps 38:19).

[35:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “rejoice.”

[35:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[do not let] those who hate me without cause pinch [i.e., wink] an eye.” The negative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (see the preceding line). In the Book of Proverbs “winking an eye” is associated with deceit and trickery (see 6:13; 10:10; 16:30).

[35:20]  ¹² tn Heb “for they do not speak peace.”

[35:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

[35:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they cause their mouth to be wide against me.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the generalizing mood of the previous verse. For other examples of this use of the prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive, see GKC 329 §111.t.

[35:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “our eye sees.” Apparently this is an idiom meaning to “look in triumph” or “gloat over” (see Ps 54:7).

[35:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you see, O Lord.” There is a deliberate play on words. In v. 21 the enemies say, “our eye sees,” but the psalmist is confident that the Lord “sees” as well, so he appeals to him for help (see also v. 17).

[35:23]  ¹⁷ sn Though he is confident that the Lord is aware of his situation (see v. 22a), the psalmist compares the Lord’s inactivity to sleep and urges him to wake up.

[35:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for my justice.”

[35:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for my cause.”

[35:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “rejoice.”

[35:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ²² tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[41:11]  ²³ sn By this. Having recalled his former lament and petition, the psalmist returns to the confident mood of vv. 1-3. The basis for his confidence may be a divine oracle of deliverance, assuring him that God would intervene and vindicate him. The demonstrative pronoun “this” may refer to such an oracle, which is assumed here, though its contents are not included. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 319, 321.

[41:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “will.” One may translate the imperfect verbal form as descriptive (present, cf. NIV) or as anticipatory (future, cf. NEB).

[41:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “shout.”

[56:1]  ²⁶ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ²⁷ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ²⁸ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ²⁹ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ³⁰ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ³² tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.

[94:3]  ³³ tn Or “exult.”

[142:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for I am very low.”

[36:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “make with me a blessing and come out to me.”

[36:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”

[36:19]  ³⁷ tn The rhetorical questions in v. 34a suggest the answer, “Nowhere, they seem to have disappeared in the face of Assyria’s might.”

[36:19]  ³⁸ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[36:19]  ³⁹ tn Heb “that they rescued Samaria from my hand?” But this gives the impression that the gods of Sepharvaim were responsible for protecting Samaria, which is obviously not the case. The implied subject of the plural verb “rescued” must be the generic “gods of the nations/lands” (vv. 18, 20).

[36:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “that the Lord might rescue Jerusalem from my hand?” The logic runs as follows: Since no god has ever been able to withstand the Assyrian onslaught, how can the people of Jerusalem possibly think the Lord will rescue them?

[37:20]  ⁴¹ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”

[37:35]  ⁴² tn Heb “for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”