Psalms 22:23-24

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ¹  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ² 

22:24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering ³  of the oppressed; ⁴ 

he did not ignore him; ⁵ 

when he cried out to him, he responded. ⁶ 

Psalms 32:5-6

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ⁷  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ⁸  (Selah)

32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers ⁹  should pray to you

while there is a window of opportunity. ¹⁰ 

Certainly ¹¹  when the surging water ¹²  rises,

it will not reach them. ¹³ 

Psalms 71:20

71:20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress, ¹⁴ 

revive me once again! ¹⁵ 

Bring me up once again ¹⁶  from the depths of the earth!

Psalms 71:1

Psalm 71 ¹⁷ 

71:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Colossians 1:8-10

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹⁸  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹⁹  to fill ²⁰  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ²¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

[22:23]  ¹ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ² tn Heb “fear him.”

[22:24]  ³ tn Or “affliction”; or “need.”

[22:24]  ⁴ sn In this verse the psalmist refers to himself in the third person and characterizes himself as oppressed.

[22:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “he did not hide his face from him.” For other uses of the idiom “hide the face” meaning “ignore,” see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9. Sometimes the idiom carries the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 27:9; 88:14).

[22:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “heard.”

[32:5]  ⁷ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[32:6]  ⁹ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[32:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the Lord]” and seek his forgiveness (cf. NIV). Some emend the text by combining מְצֹא (mÿtso’, “finding”) with the following term רַק (raq, “only, surely”) and read either ר[וֹ]מָצ (matsor, “distress”; see Ps 31:22) or ק[וֹ]מָצ (matsoq, “hardship”; see Ps 119:143). In this case, one may translate “in a time of distress/hardship” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[32:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.

[32:6]  ¹² sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.

[32:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.

[71:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you who have caused me to see many harmful distresses.”

[71:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you return, you give me life.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will revive me once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[71:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you return, you bring me up.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will bring me up once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[71:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 71. The psalmist prays for divine intervention and expresses his confidence that God will protect and vindicate him. The first three verses are very similar to Ps 31:1-3a.

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁰ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ²¹ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ²² tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”