Psalms 40:1-3

Psalm 40 ¹ 

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely ²  on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ³ 

out of the slimy mud. ⁴ 

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing. ⁵ 

40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, ⁶ 

praising our God. ⁷ 

May many see what God has done,

so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord! ⁸ 

Psalms 119:82

119:82 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your promise to be fulfilled. ⁹ 

I say, ¹⁰  “When will you comfort me?”

Psalms 119:123-125

119:123 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your deliverance, ¹¹ 

for your reliable promise to be fulfilled. ¹² 

119:124 Show your servant your loyal love! ¹³ 

Teach me your statutes!

119:125 I am your servant. Give me insight,

so that I can understand ¹⁴  your rules.

Psalms 130:5-6

130:5 I rely on ¹⁵  the Lord,

I rely on him with my whole being; ¹⁶ 

I wait for his assuring word. ¹⁷ 

130:6 I yearn for the Lord, ¹⁸ 

more than watchmen do for the morning,

yes, more than watchmen do for the morning. ¹⁹ 

Genesis 32:26

32:26 Then the man ²⁰  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ²¹  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ²²  “unless you bless me.” ²³ 

Genesis 49:18

49:18 I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. ²⁴ 

Lamentations 3:25-26

ט (Tet)

3:25 The Lord is good to those who trust ²⁵  in him,

to the one ²⁶  who seeks him.

3:26 It is good to wait patiently ²⁷ 

for deliverance from the Lord. ²⁸ 

Luke 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ²⁹  Jesus ³⁰  told them a parable to show them they should always ³¹  pray and not lose heart. ³² 

[40:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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).

[40:2]  ³ tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).

[40:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[40:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”

[40:3]  ⁶ sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.

[40:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”

[40:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the Lord.” The translation assumes that the initial prefixed verbal form is a jussive (“may many see”), rather than an imperfect (“many will see”). The following prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive are taken as indicating purpose or result (“so that they might swear allegiance…and trust”) after the introductory jussive.

[119:82]  ⁹ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your word.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See Ps 69:3.

[119:82]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

[119:123]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your deliverance.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See the similar phrase in v. 82.

[119:123]  ¹² tn Heb “and for the word of your faithfulness.”

[119:124]  ¹³ tn Heb “do with your servant according to your loyal love.”

[119:125]  ¹⁴ tn or “know.” The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[130:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “wait for.”

[130:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my soul waits.”

[130:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his word.”

[130:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my soul for the master.”

[130:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “more than watchmen for the morning, watchmen for the morning.” The words “yes, more” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:26]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ²¹ tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ²² tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:26]  ²³ sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.

[49:18]  ²⁴ sn I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. As Jacob sees the conflicts that lie ahead for Dan and Gad (see v. 19), he offers a brief prayer for their security.

[3:25]  ²⁵ tn Heb “wait for him”

[3:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to the soul…” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= “the soul who seeks him”) for the whole person (= “the person who seeks him”).

[3:26]  ²⁷ tn Heb “waiting and silently.” The two adjectives וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם (vÿyakhil vÿdumam, “waiting and silently”) form a hendiadys: The first functions verbally and the second functions adverbially: “to wait silently.” The adjective דוּמָם (dumam, “silently”) also functions as a metonymy of association, standing for patience or rest (HALOT 217 s.v.). This metonymical nuance is captured well in less literal English versions: “wait in patience” (TEV) and “wait patiently” (CEV, NJPS). The more literal English versions do not express the metonymy as well: “quietly wait” (KJV, NKJV, ASV), “waits silently” (NASB), “wait quietly” (RSV, NRSV, NIV).

[3:26]  ²⁸ tn Heb “deliverance of the Lord.” In the genitive-construct, the genitive יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) denotes source, that is, he is the source of the deliverance: “deliverance from the Lord.”

[18:1]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ³¹ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ³² sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).