Psalms 42:9

42:9 I will pray ¹  to God, my high ridge: ² 

“Why do you ignore ³  me?

Why must I walk around mourning ⁴ 

because my enemies oppress me?”

Psalms 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ⁵ 

Why do you reject me? ⁶ 

Why must I walk around ⁷  mourning ⁸ 

because my enemies oppress me?

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ⁹ 

2:1 Why ¹⁰  do the nations rebel? ¹¹ 

Why ¹²  are the countries ¹³  devising ¹⁴  plots that will fail? ¹⁵ 

Psalms 115:2

115:2 Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

Psalms 10:1

Psalm 10 ¹⁶ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ¹⁷ 

Psalms 44:24

44:24 Why do you look the other way, ¹⁸ 

and ignore ¹⁹  the way we are oppressed and mistreated? ²⁰ 

Psalms 49:5

49:5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble, ²¹ 

when the sinful deeds of deceptive men threaten to overwhelm me? ²² 

Psalms 74:11

74:11 Why do you remain inactive?

Intervene and destroy him! ²³ 

Psalms 80:12

80:12 Why did you break down its walls, ²⁴ 

so that all who pass by pluck its fruit? ²⁵ 

Psalms 88:14

88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me? ²⁶ 

Psalms 44:23

44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Wake up! ²⁷  Do not reject us forever!

Psalms 74:1

Psalm 74 ²⁸ 

A well-written song ²⁹  by Asaph.

74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? ³⁰ 

Why does your anger burn ³¹  against the sheep of your pasture?

Psalms 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ³² 

Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22 ³³ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ³⁴  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ³⁵ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ³⁶ 

Psalms 68:16

68:16 Why do you look with envy, ³⁷  O mountains ³⁸  with many peaks,

at the mountain where God has decided to live? ³⁹ 

Indeed ⁴⁰  the Lord will live there ⁴¹  permanently!

[42:9]  ¹ tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “forget.”

[42:9]  ⁴ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[43:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[2:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ¹² tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[10:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[44:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Why do you hide your face?” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[44:24]  ¹⁸ tn Or “forget.”

[44:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”

[49:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “days of trouble.” The phrase also occurs in Ps 94:13. The question is rhetorical; there is no reason to be afraid when the rich oppressors threaten the weak (see v. 17). The following verses explain why this is so.

[49:5]  ²² tc The MT has, “the iniquity of my heels surrounds me.” The clause is best understood as temporal and as elaborating on the preceding phrase “times of trouble.” If the MT is retained, the genitive “of my heels” would probably indicate location (“the iniquity at my heels”); the sinful actions of the rich threaten to overtake the psalmist, as it were. It is better, however, to emend עֲקֵבַי (’aqivay, “my heels”) to either (1) עֲקֻבַּי (’aqubay, “my deceitful ones,” i.e., “those who deceive me” [from the adjective עָקֹב (’aqov), “deceitful,” see Jer 17:9]) or (2) עֹקְבַי (’oqÿvay, “those who deceive me” [a suffixed active participle from עָקַב, ’aqav, “betray, deceive”]). Origen’s transliteration of the Hebrew text favors the first of these options. Either of the emendations provides a much smoother transition to v. 6, because “those who trust in their wealth” would then be appositional to “those who deceive me.”

[74:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.

[80:12]  ²⁹ sn The protective walls of the metaphorical vineyard are in view here (see Isa 5:5).

[80:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “pluck it.”

[88:14]  ³³ tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”

[44:23]  ³⁷ sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.

[74:1]  ⁴¹ sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 b.c., asks God to consider Israel’s sufferings and intervene on behalf of his people. He describes the ruined temple, recalls God’s mighty deeds in the past, begs for mercy, and calls for judgment upon God’s enemies.

[74:1]  ⁴² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[74:1]  ⁴³ sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.

[74:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.

[79:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[22:1]  ⁴⁹ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ⁵¹ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ⁵² tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[68:16]  ⁵³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb רָצַד (ratsad), translated here “look with envy,” is uncertain; it occurs only here in the OT. See BDB 952-53. A cognate verb occurs in later Aramaic with the meaning “to lie in wait; to watch” (Jastrow 1492 s.v. רְצַד).

[68:16]  ⁵⁴ tn Perhaps the apparent plural form should be read as a singular with enclitic mem (ם; later misinterpreted as a plural ending). The preceding verse has the singular form.

[68:16]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “[at] the mountain God desires for his dwelling place.” The reference is to Mount Zion/Jerusalem.

[68:16]  ⁵⁶ tn The Hebrew particle אַף (’af) has an emphasizing function here.

[68:16]  ⁵⁷ tn The word “there” is supplied in the translation for clarification.