Psalms 17:6

17:6 I call to you for you will answer me, O God.

Listen to me! ¹ 

Hear what I say! ² 

Psalms 38:16

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ³ 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ⁴ 

Psalms 40:7

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ⁵ 

Psalms 41:4

41:4 As for me, I said: ⁶ 

“O Lord, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you!

Psalms 75:4

75:4 ⁷ I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,”

and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory! ⁸ 

Psalms 89:2

89:2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; ⁹ 

in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” ¹⁰ 

Psalms 140:6

140:6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”

O Lord, pay attention to my plea for mercy!

Psalms 142:5

142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my shelter,

my security ¹¹  in the land of the living.”

[17:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”

[17:6]  ² tn Heb “my word.”

[38:16]  ³ tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[40:7]  ⁵ 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.

[41:4]  ⁷ sn In vv. 4-10 the psalmist recites the prayer of petition and lament he offered to the Lord.

[75:4]  ⁹ tn The identity of the speaker in vv. 4-6 is unclear. The present translation assumes that the psalmist, who also speaks in vv. 7-9 (where God/the Lord is spoken of in the third person) here addresses the proud and warns them of God’s judgment. The presence of כִּי (ki, “for”) at the beginning of both vv. 6-7 seems to indicate that vv. 4-9 are a unit. However, there is no formal indication of a new speaker in v. 4 (or in v. 10, where God appears to speak). Another option is to see God speaking in vv. 2-6 and v. 10 and to take only vv. 7-9 as the words of the psalmist. In this case one must interpret כִּי at the beginning of v. 7 in an asseverative or emphatic sense (“surely; indeed”).

[75:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do not lift up a horn.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Here the idiom seems to refer to an arrogant attitude that assumes victory has been achieved.

[89:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “built.”

[89:2]  ¹² sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).

[142:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.