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 40:7

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ⁴ 

Psalms 59:4

59:4 Though I have done nothing wrong, ⁵  they are anxious to attack. ⁶ 

Spring into action and help me! Take notice of me! ⁷ 

Psalms 73:12

73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, ⁸ 

those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. ⁹ 

Psalms 92:9

92:9 Indeed, ¹⁰  look at your enemies, O Lord!

Indeed, ¹¹  look at how your enemies perish!

All the evildoers are scattered!

Psalms 102:19

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ¹² 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ¹³ 

Psalms 112:8

112:8 His resolve ¹⁴  is firm; he will not succumb to fear

before he looks in triumph on his enemies.

Psalms 121:1

Psalm 121 ¹⁵ 

A song of ascents. ¹⁶ 

121:1 I look up ¹⁷  toward the hills.

From where ¹⁸  does my help come?

[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.”

[40:7]  ⁴ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “without sin.”

[59:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “they run and they are determined.”

[59:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “arise to meet me and see.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to meet; to encounter”) here carries the nuance of “to help.”

[73:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”

[73:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”

[92:9]  ¹³ tn Or “for.”

[92:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for.”

[102:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ¹⁷ tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[112:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his heart,” viewed here as the seat of the volition.

[121:1]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[121:1]  ²⁵ 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.