Psalms 22:9-10

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out ¹  from the womb

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

22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; ² 

from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ³ 

Psalms 109:14

109:14 May his ancestors’ ⁴  sins be remembered by the Lord!

May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! ⁵ 

Psalms 139:13

139:13 Certainly ⁶  you made my mind and heart; ⁷ 

you wove me together ⁸  in my mother’s womb.

[22:9]  ¹ 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.”

[22:10]  ² tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”

[22:10]  ³ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”

[109:14]  ³ tn Or “fathers’ sins.”

[109:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “not be wiped out.”

[139:13]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[139:13]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.