Psalms 142:1

Psalm 142 ¹ 

A well-written song ²  by David, when he was in the cave; ³  a prayer.

142:1 To the Lord I cry out; ⁴ 

to the Lord I plead for mercy. ⁵ 

Psalms 142:1

Psalm 142 ⁶ 

A well-written song ⁷  by David, when he was in the cave; ⁸  a prayer.

142:1 To the Lord I cry out; ⁹ 

to the Lord I plead for mercy. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22 ¹¹ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ¹²  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ¹³ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 24:3

24:3 Who is allowed to ascend ¹⁵  the mountain of the Lord? ¹⁶ 

Who may go up to his holy dwelling place?

Psalms 24:8

24:8 Who is this majestic king? ¹⁷ 

The Lord who is strong and mighty!

The Lord who is mighty in battle!

[142:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 142. The psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

[142:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[142:1]  ³ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57.

[142:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I cry out.”

[142:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I plead for mercy.”

[142:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 142. The psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

[142:1]  ⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[142:1]  ⁸ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57.

[142:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I cry out.”

[142:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I plead for mercy.”

[22:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ¹² tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ¹³ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[24:3]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfects in v. 3 are modal, expressing potential or permission.

[24:3]  ¹⁶ sn In this context the Lord’s mountain probably refers to Zion/Jerusalem (see Isa 2:2-3).

[24:8]  ¹⁷ sn Who is this majestic king? Perhaps the personified gates/doors ask this question, in response to the command given in v. 7.