Psalms 13:3

13:3 Look at me! ¹  Answer me, O Lord my God!

Revive me, ²  or else I will die! ³ 

Psalms 25:15

25:15 I continually look to the Lord for help, ⁴ 

for he will free my feet from the enemy’s net. ⁵ 

Psalms 40:7

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ⁶ 

Psalms 59:4

59:4 Though I have done nothing wrong, ⁷  they are anxious to attack. ⁸ 

Spring into action and help me! Take notice of me! ⁹ 

Psalms 69:3

69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help;

my throat is sore; ¹⁰ 

my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. ¹¹ 

Psalms 73:12

73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, ¹² 

those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. ¹³ 

Psalms 92:9

92:9 Indeed, ¹⁴  look at your enemies, O Lord!

Indeed, ¹⁵  look at how your enemies perish!

All the evildoers are scattered!

Psalms 92:11

92:11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me; ¹⁶ 

I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 109:25

109:25 I am disdained by them. ¹⁸ 

When they see me, they shake their heads. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 121:1

Psalm 121 ²⁰ 

A song of ascents. ²¹ 

121:1 I look up ²²  toward the hills.

From where ²³  does my help come?

Psalms 141:8

141:8 Surely I am looking to you, ²⁴  O sovereign Lord.

In you I take shelter.

Do not expose me to danger! ²⁵ 

[13:3]  ¹ tn Heb “see.”

[13:3]  ² 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]  ³ 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.”

[25:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “my eyes continually [are] toward the Lord.”

[25:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “for he will bring out from a net my feet.” The hostility of the psalmist’s enemies is probably in view (see v. 19).

[40:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[59:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “without sin.”

[59:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they run and they are determined.”

[59:4]  ¹² tn Heb “arise to meet me and see.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to meet; to encounter”) here carries the nuance of “to help.”

[69:3]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”

[69:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.

[73:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”

[73:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”

[92:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”

[92:9]  ²⁰ tn Or “for.”

[92:11]  ²² tn Heb “my eye gazes upon those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2. The form שׁוּרָי (shuray) should be emended to שׁוֹרְרָי (shorÿray).

[92:11]  ²³ tn Heb “those who rise up against me, evil [foes], my ears hear.”

[109:25]  ²⁵ tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”

[109:25]  ²⁶ sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.

[121:1]  ²⁸ sn Psalm 121. The psalm affirms that the Lord protects his people Israel. Unless the psalmist addresses an observer (note the second person singular forms in vv. 3-8), it appears there are two or three speakers represented in the psalm, depending on how one takes v. 3. The translation assumes that speaker one talks in vv. 1-2, that speaker two responds to him with a prayer in v. 3 (this assumes the verbs are true jussives of prayer), and that speaker three responds with words of assurance in vv. 4-8. If the verbs in v. 3 are taken as a rhetorical use of the jussive, then there are two speakers. Verses 3-8 are speaker two’s response to the words of speaker one. See the note on the word “sleep” at the end of v. 3.

[121:1]  ²⁹ 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.

[121:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[121:1]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (me’ayin) is interrogative, not relative, in function. Rather than directly stating that his source of help descends from the hills, the psalmist is asking, “From where does my help come?” Nevertheless, the first line does indicate that he is looking toward the hills for help, probably indicating that he is looking up toward the sky in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.

[141:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “my eyes [are] toward you.”

[141:8]  ³² tn Heb “do not lay bare my life.” Only here is the Piel form of the verb collocated with the term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”). In Isa 53:12 the Lord’s servant “lays bare (the Hiphil form of the verb is used) his life to death.”