Psalms 16:2

Context

16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,

my only source of well-being.”¹

Psalms 31:14

Context

31:14 But I trust in you, O Lord!

I declare, “You are my God!”

Psalms 73:24

Context

73:24 You guide² me by your wise advice,

and then you will lead me to a position of honor.³

Psalms 73:26

Context

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak,⁴

but God always⁵ protects my heart and gives me stability.⁶

Lamentations 3:21

Context

3:21 But this I call⁷ to mind;⁸

therefore I have hope:

[16:2] ¹tn Heb “my good [is] not beyond you.” For the use of the preposition עַל (’al) in the sense of “beyond,” see BDB 755 s.v. 2.

[73:24] ²tn The imperfect verbal form here suggests this is the psalmist’s ongoing experience.

[73:24] ³tn Heb “and afterward [to] glory you will take me.” Some interpreters view this as the psalmist’s confidence in an afterlife in God’s presence and understand כָּבוֹד (cavod) as a metonymic reference to God’s presence in heaven. But this seems unlikely in the present context. The psalmist anticipates a time of vindication, when the wicked are destroyed and he is honored by God for his godly life style. The verb לָקַח (laqakh, “take”) here carries the nuance “lead, guide, conduct,” as in Num 23:14, 27-28; Josh 24:3 and Prov 24:11.

[73:26] ⁴tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

[73:26] ⁵tn Or “forever.”

[73:26] ⁶tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[3:21] ⁷tn Heb “I cause to return.”

[3:21] ⁸tn Heb “to my heart.” The noun לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) has a broad range of meanings, including its use as a metonymy of association, standing for thoughts and thinking = “mind” (e.g., Deut 32:46; 1 Chr 29:18; Job 17:11; Ps 73:7; Isa 10:7; Hag 1:5, 7; 2:15, 18; Zech 7:10; 8:17).