Psalms 31:12

31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; ¹ 

I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. ² 

Psalms 9:6

9:6 The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins; ³ 

you destroyed their cities; ⁴ 

all memory of the enemies has perished. ⁵ 

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ⁶ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Psalms 142:4

142:4 Look to the right and see!

No one cares about me. ⁷ 

I have nowhere to run; ⁸ 

no one is concerned about my life. ⁹ 

[31:12]  ¹ tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

[31:12]  ² tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

[9:6]  ³ tn Heb “the enemy – they have come to an end [in] ruins permanently.” The singular form אוֹיֵב (’oyev, “enemy”) is collective. It is placed at the beginning of the verse to heighten the contrast with יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) in v. 7.

[9:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “you uprooted cities.”

[9:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “it has perished, their remembrance, they.” The independent pronoun at the end of the line is in apposition to the preceding pronominal suffix and lends emphasis (see IBHS 299 §16.3.4). The referent of the masculine pronoun is the nations/enemies (cf. v. 5), not the cities (the Hebrew noun עָרִים [’arim, “cities”] is grammatically feminine). This has been specified in the present translation for clarity; many modern translations retain the pronoun “them,” resulting in ambiguity (cf. NRSV “their cities you have rooted out; the very memory of them has perished”).

[119:176]  ⁵ tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).

[142:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

[142:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

[142:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”