Psalms 35:22

35:22 But you take notice, ¹  Lord!

O Lord, do not remain far away from me!

Psalms 35:25

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ²  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ³ 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

Psalms 37:1

Psalm 37 ⁴ 

By David.

37:1 Do not fret ⁵  when wicked men seem to succeed! ⁶ 

Do not envy evildoers!

Psalms 38:21

38:21 Do not abandon me, O Lord!

My God, do not remain far away from me!

Psalms 71:9

71:9 Do not reject me in my old age! ⁷ 

When my strength fails, do not abandon me!

Psalms 121:3

121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector ⁸  not sleep! ⁹ 

[35:22]  ¹ tn Heb “you see, O Lord.” There is a deliberate play on words. In v. 21 the enemies say, “our eye sees,” but the psalmist is confident that the Lord “sees” as well, so he appeals to him for help (see also v. 17).

[35:25]  ² tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ³ tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[37:1]  ³ sn Psalm 37. The psalmist urges his audience not to envy the wicked, but to trust in and obey the Lord, for he will destroy sinners and preserve the godly. When the smoke of judgment clears, the wicked will be gone, but the godly will remain and inherit God’s promised blessings. The psalm is an acrostic; every other verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[37:1]  ⁴ tn The verb form is singular (see vv. 3-10 as well, where the second person verbs and pronouns are also singular). The psalmist’s exhortation has a wisdom flavor to it; it is personalized for each member of his audience.

[37:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “over sinners.” The context indicates that the psalmist has in mind the apparent power and success of sinners. See v. 7b.

[71:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”

[121:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one who guards you.”

[121:3]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8.