Psalms 32:8

32:8 I will instruct and teach you ¹  about how you should live. ² 

I will advise you as I look you in the eye. ³ 

Psalms 42:9

42:9 I will pray ⁴  to God, my high ridge: ⁵ 

“Why do you ignore ⁶  me?

Why must I walk around mourning ⁷ 

because my enemies oppress me?”

Psalms 60:10

60:10 Have you not rejected us, O God?

O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.

Psalms 84:7

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along; ⁸ 

each one appears ⁹  before God in Zion.

Psalms 88:4

88:4 They treat me like ¹⁰  those who descend into the grave. ¹¹ 

I am like a helpless man, ¹² 

Psalms 115:17

115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. ¹³ 

[32:8]  ¹ tn The second person pronominal forms in this verse are singular. The psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually (see also the note on the word “eye” in the next line). A less likely option (but one which is commonly understood) is that the Lord addresses the psalmist in vv. 8-9 (cf. NASB “I will instruct you and teach you…I will counsel you with My eye upon you”).

[32:8]  ² tn Heb “I will instruct you and I will teach you in the way [in] which you should walk.”

[32:8]  ³ tn Heb “I will advise, upon you my eye,” that is, “I will offer advice [with] my eye upon you.” In 2 Chr 20:12 the statement “our eye is upon you” means that the speakers are looking to the Lord for intervention. Here the expression “my eye upon you” may simply mean that the psalmist will teach his pupils directly and personally.

[42:9]  ⁴ tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9]  ⁵ tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.

[42:9]  ⁶ tn Or “forget.”

[42:9]  ⁷ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[84:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “they go from strength to strength.” The phrase “from strength to strength” occurs only here in the OT. With a verb of motion, the expression “from [common noun] to [same common noun]” normally suggests movement from one point to another or through successive points (see Num 36:7; 1 Chr 16:20; 17:5; Ps 105:13; Jer 25:32). Ps 84:7 may be emphasizing that the pilgrims move successively from one “place of strength” to another as they travel toward Jerusalem. All along the way they find adequate provisions and renewed energy for the trip.

[84:7]  ⁸ tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one” ) sense.

[88:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I am considered with.”

[88:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[88:4]  ¹² tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”

[115:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).