Discovery BoxPsalms 4:1
ContextFor the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.
4:1 When I call out, answer me,
O God who vindicates me! 2
Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. 3
Have mercy on me 4 and respond to 5 my prayer!
Psalms 18:6
Context18:6 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 30:1
ContextA psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; 10 by David.
30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, 11
and did not allow my enemies to gloat 12 over me.
Psalms 31:2
ContextQuickly deliver me!
Be my protector and refuge, 14
a stronghold where I can be safe! 15
Psalms 40:17
Context40:17 I am oppressed and needy! 16
May the Lord pay attention to me! 17
You are my helper and my deliverer!
O my God, do not delay!
Psalms 42:3
Context42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; 18
all day long they say to me, 19 “Where is your God?”
Psalms 70:5
Context70:5 I am oppressed and needy! 20
O God, hurry to me! 21
You are my helper and my deliverer!
O Lord, 22 do not delay!
Psalms 102:2
Context102:2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble! 23
Listen to me! 24
When I call out to you, quickly answer me!
Psalms 142:3-4
Context142:3 Even when my strength leaves me, 25
you watch my footsteps. 26
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
142:4 Look to the right and see!
No one cares about me. 27
I have nowhere to run; 28
no one is concerned about my life. 29
[4:1] 1 sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.
[4:1] 2 tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”
[4:1] 3 tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
[4:1] 4 tn Or “show me favor.”
[18:6] 6 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] 7 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] 8 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.
[30:1] 11 sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.
[30:1] 12 tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.
[30:1] 13 tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the
[31:2] 16 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
[31:2] 17 tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”
[31:2] 18 tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”
[40:17] 21 sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.
[40:17] 22 tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a jussive of prayer (as in the present translation; cf. NIV) or as an imperfect, “The
[42:3] 26 tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”
[42:3] 27 tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.
[70:5] 31 sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.
[70:5] 32 tn Ps 40:17 has “may the Lord pay attention to me.”
[70:5] 33 tn Ps 40:17 has “my God” instead of “
[102:2] 36 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble.” The idiom “to hide the face” can mean “to ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “to reject” (see Pss 29:7; 30:7; 88:14).
[102:2] 37 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
[142:3] 41 tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”
[142:3] 42 tn Heb “you know my path.”
[142:4] 46 tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”
[142:4] 47 tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”
[142:4] 48 tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”
