Psalms 34:15

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ¹ 

Psalms 145:19

145:19 He satisfies the desire ²  of his loyal followers; ³ 

he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

Psalms 40:1

Psalm 40 ⁴ 

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely ⁵  on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

Psalms 18:6

18:6 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I cried out to my God. ⁶ 

From his heavenly temple ⁷  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. ⁸ 

Psalms 39:12

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!

Listen to my cry for help!

Do not ignore my sobbing! ⁹ 

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;

I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 102:1

Psalm 102 ¹¹ 

The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.

102:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!

Pay attention to my cry for help! ¹² 

[34:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

[145:19]  ² tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ³ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[40:1]  ³ sn Psalm 40. The psalmist combines a song of thanksgiving for a recent act of divine deliverance (vv. 1-11) with a confident petition for renewed divine intervention (vv. 12-17).

[40:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “relying, I relied.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the verbal idea. The emphasis is reflected in the translation through the adverb “completely.” Another option is to translate, “I waited patiently” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[18:6]  ⁴ tn In this poetic narrative context the four prefixed verbal forms in v. 6 are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly temple is in view, not the earthly one.

[18:6]  ⁶ tc Heb “and my cry for help before him came into his ears.” 2 Sam 22:7 has a shorter reading, “my cry for help, in his ears.” It is likely that Ps 18:6 MT as it now stands represents a conflation of two readings: (1) “my cry for help came before him,” (2) “my cry for help came into his ears.” See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 144, n. 13.

[39:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

[39:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”

[102:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.

[102:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”