Discovery BoxPsalms 38:1
ContextA psalm of David, written to get God’s attention. 2
38:1 O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger!
Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury! 3
Psalms 89:46
Context89:46 How long, O Lord, will this last?
Will you remain hidden forever? 4
Will your anger continue to burn like fire?
Psalms 106:23
Context106:23 He threatened 5 to destroy them,
but 6 Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him 7
and turned back his destructive anger. 8
Psalms 140:3
Context
[38:1] 1 sn Psalm 38. The author asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies. He confesses his sin and recognizes that the crisis he faces is the result of divine discipline. Yet he begs the Lord not to reject him.
[38:1] 2 tn The Hebrew text reads simply, “to cause to remember.” The same form, the Hiphil infinitive of זָכַר (zakhar, “remember”), also appears in the heading of Ps 70. Some understand this in the sense of “for the memorial offering,” but it may carry the idea of bringing one’s plight to God’s attention (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 303).
[38:1] 3 tn The words “continue to” are supplied in the translation of both lines. The following verses make it clear that the psalmist is already experiencing divine rebuke/punishment. He asks that it might cease.
[89:46] 4 tn Heb “How long, O
[106:23] 7 tn Heb “and he said.”
[106:23] 8 tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”
[106:23] 9 tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”
[106:23] 10 tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”
[140:3] 10 tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”
