Psalms 3:4

3:4 To the Lord I cried out, ¹ 

and he answered me from his holy hill. ²  (Selah)

Psalms 10:17

10:17 Lord, you have heard ³  the request ⁴  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ⁵ 

Psalms 40:17

40:17 I am oppressed and needy! ⁶ 

May the Lord pay attention to me! ⁷ 

You are my helper and my deliverer!

O my God, do not delay!

Psalms 66:16-20

66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God! ⁸ 

I will declare what he has done for me.

66:17 I cried out to him for help ⁹ 

and praised him with my tongue. ¹⁰ 

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ¹¹ 

the Lord would not have listened.

66:19 However, God heard;

he listened to my prayer.

66:20 God deserves praise, ¹² 

for ¹³  he did not reject my prayer

or abandon his love for me! ¹⁴ 

[3:4]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form could be an imperfect, yielding the translation “I cry out,” but the verb form in the next line (a vav [ו] consecutive with the preterite) suggests this is a brief narrative of what has already happened. Consequently the verb form in v. 4a is better understood as a preterite, “I cried out.” (For another example of the preterite of this same verb form, see Ps 30:8.) Sometime after the crisis arose, the psalmist prayed to the Lord and received an assuring answer. Now he confidently awaits the fulfillment of the divine promise.

[3:4]  ² sn His holy hill. That is, Zion (see Pss 2:6; 48:1-2). The psalmist recognizes that the Lord dwells in his sanctuary on Mount Zion.

[10:17]  ³ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[40:17]  ⁵ sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.

[40:17]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a jussive of prayer (as in the present translation; cf. NIV) or as an imperfect, “The Lord will pay attention to me” (cf. NRSV). The parallel in Ps 70:5 has, “O God, hurry to me!” For this reason some prefer to emend יַחֲשָׁב (yakhashav, “may he pay attention”) to חוּשָׁה (khushah, “hurry!”). The syntax of the Hebrew text is awkward; elsewhere when the Qal of חָשַׁב (khashav, “reckon; consider”) is collocated with the preposition -ל (lamed) and a pronominal suffix there is an accompanying direct object or additional prepositional phrase/adverbial accusative (see Gen 15:6; 2 Sam 19:19; Job 13:24; 19:11; 33:10; Pss 32:2; 41:7; Amos 6:5).

[66:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”

[66:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”

[66:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.

[66:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[66:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[66:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.

[66:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”