Psalms 139:7

139:7 Where can I go to escape your spirit?

Where can I flee to escape your presence? ¹ 

Psalms 13:1-2

Psalm 13 ² 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ³ 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ⁴ 

13:2 How long must I worry, ⁵ 

and suffer in broad daylight? ⁶ 

How long will my enemy gloat over me? ⁷ 

Psalms 116:4

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

Psalms 62:3

62:3 How long will you threaten ⁸  a man?

All of you are murderers, ⁹ 

as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 116:16

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave. ¹¹ 

You saved me from death. ¹² 

[139:7]  ¹ tn Heb “Where can I go from your spirit, and where from your face can I flee?” God’s “spirit” may refer here (1) to his presence (note the parallel term, “your face,” and see Ps 104:29-30, where God’s “face” is his presence and his “spirit” is the life-giving breath he imparts) or (2) to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).

[13:1]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “How long will I put counsel in my being?”

[13:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “[with] grief in my heart by day.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “be exalted over me.” Perhaps one could translate, “How long will my enemy defeat me?”

[62:3]  ⁴ tn The verb form is plural; the psalmist addresses his enemies. The verb הוּת occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “shout at.”

[62:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has a Pual (passive) form, but the verb form should be vocalized as a Piel (active) form. See BDB 953-54 s.v. רָצַח.

[62:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “like a bent wall and a broken fence.” The point of the comparison is not entirely clear. Perhaps the enemies are depicted as dangerous, like a leaning wall or broken fence that is in danger of falling on someone (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:69).

[116:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[116:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).