Psalms 18:9

18:9 He made the sky sink ¹  as he descended;

a thick cloud was under his feet.

Psalms 40:1

Psalm 40 ² 

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely ³  on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

[18:9]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “[cause to] bend, bow down.” For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as he descends in the storm.

[40:1]  ² sn Psalm 40. The psalmist combines a song of thanksgiving for a recent act of divine deliverance (vv. 1-11) with a confident petition for renewed divine intervention (vv. 12-17).

[40:1]  ³ tn Heb “relying, I relied.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the verbal idea. The emphasis is reflected in the translation through the adverb “completely.” Another option is to translate, “I waited patiently” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).