Psalms 25:17

25:17 Deliver me from my distress; ¹ 

rescue me from my suffering! ² 

Psalms 73:7

73:7 Their prosperity causes them to do wrong; ³ 

their thoughts are sinful. ⁴ 

Psalms 73:21

73:21 Yes, ⁵  my spirit was bitter, ⁶ 

and my insides felt sharp pain. ⁷ 

Psalms 78:18

78:18 They willfully challenged God ⁸ 

by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

Psalms 78:72

78:72 David ⁹  cared for them with pure motives; ¹⁰ 

he led them with skill. ¹¹ 

Psalms 119:7

119:7 I will give you sincere thanks, ¹² 

when I learn your just regulations.

[25:17]  ¹ tc Heb “the distresses of my heart, they make wide.” The text makes little if any sense as it stands, unless this is an otherwise unattested intransitive use of the Hiphil of רָחַב (rakhav, “be wide”). It is preferable to emend the form הִרְחִיבוּ (hirkhivu; Hiphil perfect third plural “they make wide”) to הַרְחֵיב (harkhev; Hiphil imperative masculine singular “make wide”). (The final vav [ו] can be joined to the following word and taken as a conjunction.) In this case one can translate, “[in/from] the distresses of my heart, make wide [a place for me],” that is, “deliver me from the distress I am experiencing.” For the expression “make wide [a place for me],” see Ps 4:1.

[25:17]  ² tn Heb “from my distresses lead me out.”

[73:7]  ³ tc The MT reads “it goes out from fatness their eye,” which might be paraphrased, “their eye protrudes [or “bulges”] because of fatness.” This in turn might refer to their greed; their eyes “bug out” when they see rich food or produce (the noun חֵלֶב [khelev, “fatness”] sometimes refers to such food or produce). However, when used with the verb יָצָא (yatsa’, “go out”) the preposition מִן (“from”) more naturally indicates source. For this reason it is preferable to emend עֵינֵמוֹ (’enemo, “their eye”) to עֲוֹנָמוֹ, (’avonamo, “their sin”) and read, “and their sin proceeds forth from fatness,” that is, their prosperity gives rise to their sinful attitudes. If one follows this textual reading, another interpretive option is to take חֵלֶב (“fatness”) in the sense of “unreceptive, insensitive” (see its use in Ps 17:10). In this case, the sin of the wicked proceeds forth from their spiritual insensitivity.

[73:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the thoughts of [their] heart [i.e., mind] cross over” (i.e., violate God’s moral boundary, see Ps 17:3).

[73:21]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “when.”

[73:21]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing attitude in a past time frame.

[73:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [in] my kidneys I was pierced.” The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing condition in a past time frame.

[78:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they tested God in their heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the center of their volition.

[78:72]  ⁹ tn Heb “He”; the referent (David, God’s chosen king, mentioned in v. 70) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[78:72]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.”

[78:72]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”

[119:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will give you thanks with an upright heart.”