Psalms 44:24

44:24 Why do you look the other way, ¹ 

and ignore ²  the way we are oppressed and mistreated? ³ 

Psalms 42:9

42:9 I will pray ⁴  to God, my high ridge: ⁵ 

“Why do you ignore ⁶  me?

Why must I walk around mourning ⁷ 

because my enemies oppress me?”

Psalms 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ⁸ 

Why do you reject me? ⁹ 

Why must I walk around ¹⁰  mourning ¹¹ 

because my enemies oppress me?

[44:24]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “forget.”

[44:24]  ³ tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”

[42:9]  ⁴ tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “forget.”

[42:9]  ⁷ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[43:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.