Psalms 25:1

Psalm 25 ¹ 

By David.

25:1 O Lord, I come before you in prayer. ² 

Psalms 30:2

30:2 O Lord my God,

I cried out to you and you healed me. ³ 

Psalms 56:3

56:3 When ⁴  I am afraid,

I trust in you.

Psalms 104:27

104:27 All of your creatures ⁵  wait for you

to provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁶ 

Psalms 143:9

143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!

I run to you for protection. ⁷ 

[25:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.

[25:1]  ² tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.

[30:2]  ³ sn You healed me. Apparently the psalmist was plagued by a serious illness that threatened his life. See Ps 41.

[56:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “[in] a day.”

[104:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.

[104:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

[143:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “to you I cover,” which makes no sense. The translation assumes an emendation to נַסְתִּי (nastiy, “I flee,” a Qal perfect, first singular form from נוּס, nos). Confusion of kaf (כ) and nun (נ) is attested elsewhere (see P. K. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 48). The collocation of נוּס (“flee”) with אֶל (’el, “to”) is well-attested.