Discovery BoxPsalms 18:6
Context18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried out to my God. 1
From his heavenly temple 2 he heard my voice;
he listened to my cry for help. 3
Psalms 34:4-6
Context34:4 I sought the Lord’s help 4 and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
34:5 Those who look to him for help are happy;
their faces are not ashamed. 5
34:6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;
he saved him 6 from all his troubles.
Psalms 77:1-2
ContextFor the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.
77:1 I will cry out to God 8 and call for help!
I will cry out to God and he will pay attention 9 to me.
77:2 In my time of trouble I sought 10 the Lord.
I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. 11
I 12 refused to be comforted.
Isaiah 65:24
Context65:24 Before they even call out, 13 I will respond;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
[18:6] 1 tn In this poetic narrative context the four prefixed verbal forms in v. 6 are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.
[18:6] 2 tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly temple is in view, not the earthly one.
[18:6] 3 tc Heb “and my cry for help before him came into his ears.” 2 Sam 22:7 has a shorter reading, “my cry for help, in his ears.” It is likely that Ps 18:6 MT as it now stands represents a conflation of two readings: (1) “my cry for help came before him,” (2) “my cry for help came into his ears.” See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 144, n. 13.
[34:4] 4 tn Heb “I sought the
[34:5] 5 tc Heb “they look to him and are radiant and their faces are not ashamed.” The third person plural subject (“they”) is unidentified; there is no antecedent in the Hebrew text. For this reason some prefer to take the perfect verbal forms in the first line as imperatives, “look to him and be radiant” (cf. NEB, NRSV). Some medieval Hebrew
[34:6] 6 tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.
[77:1] 7 sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.
[77:1] 8 tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.
[77:1] 9 tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).
[77:2] 10 tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.
[77:2] 11 tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.
[77:2] 12 tn Or “my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
[65:24] 13 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
