Psalms 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ¹ 

Why do you reject me? ² 

Why must I walk around ³  mourning ⁴ 

because my enemies oppress me?

Psalms 73:8

73:8 They mock ⁵  and say evil things; ⁶ 

they proudly threaten violence. ⁷ 

Psalms 74:9-10

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ⁸ 

there are no longer any prophets ⁹ 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ¹⁰ 

74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?

Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

Psalms 79:5

79:5 How long will this go on, O Lord? ¹¹ 

Will you stay angry forever?

How long will your rage ¹²  burn like fire?

Psalms 80:4

80:4 O Lord God, invincible warrior! ¹³ 

How long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you? ¹⁴ 

Psalms 89:46

89:46 How long, O Lord, will this last?

Will you remain hidden forever? ¹⁵ 

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

Jeremiah 12:1-2

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹⁶ 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ¹⁷ 

Why are wicked people successful? ¹⁸ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. ¹⁹ 

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. ²⁰ 

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you. ²¹ 

Jeremiah 47:6

47:6 How long will you cry out, ²²  ‘Oh, sword of the Lord,

how long will it be before you stop killing? ²³ 

Go back into your sheath!

Stay there and rest!’ ²⁴ 

Revelation 6:10

6:10 They ²⁵  cried out with a loud voice, ²⁶  “How long, ²⁷  Sovereign Master, ²⁸  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

[43:2]  ¹ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[73:8]  ⁵ tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.

[73:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and speak with evil.”

[73:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.

[74:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[79:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “How long, O Lord?”

[79:5]  ¹² tn Or “jealous anger.”

[80:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot; “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. In this context the term “hosts” (meaning “armies”) has been rendered “invincible warrior.”

[80:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.

[89:46]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “How long, O Lord, will hide yourself forever?”

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “You planted them and they took root.”

[12:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they grow and produce fruit.” For the nuance “grow” for the verb which normally means “go, walk,” see BDB 232 s.v. חָלַךְ Qal.I.3 and compare Hos 14:7.

[12:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “You are near in their mouths, but far from their kidneys.” The figure of substitution is being used here, “mouth” for “words” and “kidneys” for passions and affections. A contemporary equivalent might be, “your name is always on their lips, but their hearts are far from you.”

[47:6]  ²² tn The words “How long will you cry out” are not in the text but some such introduction seems necessary because the rest of the speech assumes a personal subject.

[47:6]  ²³ tn Heb “before you are quiet/at rest.”

[47:6]  ²⁴ sn The passage is highly figurative. The sword of the Lord, which is itself a figure of the destructive agency of the enemy armies, is here addressed as a person and is encouraged in rhetorical questions (the questions are designed to dissuade) to “be quiet,” “be at rest,” “be silent,” all of which is designed to get the Lord to call off the destruction against the Philistines.

[6:10]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[6:10]  ²⁷ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

[6:10]  ²⁸ tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).