Psalms 35:14

35:14 I mourned for them as I would for a friend or my brother. ¹ 

I bowed down ²  in sorrow as if I were mourning for my mother. ³ 

Psalms 38:6

38:6 I am dazed ⁴  and completely humiliated; ⁵ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

Psalms 42:9

42:9 I will pray ⁶  to God, my high ridge: ⁷ 

“Why do you ignore ⁸  me?

Why must I walk around mourning ⁹ 

because my enemies oppress me?”

Psalms 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ¹⁰ 

Why do you reject me? ¹¹ 

Why must I walk around ¹²  mourning ¹³ 

because my enemies oppress me?

[35:14]  ¹ tn Heb “like a friend, like a brother to me I walked about.”

[35:14]  ² sn I bowed down. Bowing down was a posture for mourning. See Ps 38:6.

[35:14]  ³ tn Heb “like mourning for a mother [in] sorrow I bowed down.”

[38:6]  ⁴ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[42:9]  ⁷ tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “forget.”

[42:9]  ¹⁰ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[43:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ¹¹ tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

[43:2]  ¹² tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

[43:2]  ¹³ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.