Psalms 22:10

22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; ¹ 

from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ² 

Psalms 51:5

51:5 Look, I was guilty of sin from birth,

a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. ³ 

Psalms 69:8

69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;

they act as if I were a foreigner. ⁴ 

Psalms 139:13

139:13 Certainly ⁵  you made my mind and heart; ⁶ 

you wove me together ⁷  in my mother’s womb.

Psalms 22:9

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out ⁸  from the womb

and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

Psalms 71:6

71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; ⁹ 

you pulled me ¹⁰  from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually. ¹¹ 

[22:10]  ¹ tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”

[22:10]  ² tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”

[51:5]  ³ tn Heb “Look, in wrongdoing I was brought forth, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The prefixed verbal form in the second line is probably a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive), stating a simple historical fact. The psalmist is not suggesting that he was conceived through an inappropriate sexual relationship (although the verse has sometimes been understood to mean that, or even that all sexual relationships are sinful). The psalmist’s point is that he has been a sinner from the very moment his personal existence began. By going back beyond the time of birth to the moment of conception, the psalmist makes his point more emphatically in the second line than in the first.

[69:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”

[139:13]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”

[139:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).

[139:13]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.

[22:9]  ⁹ tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”

[71:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[71:6]  ¹² tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).

[71:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”