Psalms 5:1

Psalm 5 ¹ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; ²  a psalm of David.

5:1 Listen to what I say, ³  Lord!

Carefully consider my complaint! ⁴ 

Psalms 5:8

5:8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness ⁵ 

because of those who wait to ambush me, ⁶ 

remove the obstacles in the way in which you are guiding me! ⁷ 

Psalms 27:11

27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; ⁸ 

lead me along a level path ⁹  because of those who wait to ambush me! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 86:11

86:11 O Lord, teach me how you want me to live! ¹¹ 

Then I will obey your commands. ¹² 

Make me wholeheartedly committed to you! ¹³ 

Psalms 119:27

119:27 Help me to understand what your precepts mean! ¹⁴ 

Then I can meditate ¹⁵  on your marvelous teachings. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 143:8

143:8 May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ¹⁷ 

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, ¹⁸ 

because I long for you. ¹⁹ 

Exodus 33:13

33:13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me ²⁰  your way, that I may know you, ²¹  that I may continue to find ²²  favor in your sight. And see ²³  that this nation is your people.”

Proverbs 8:20

8:20 I walk in the path of righteousness,

in the pathway of justice,

Isaiah 2:3

2:3 many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple of the God of Jacob,

so ²⁴  he can teach us his requirements, ²⁵ 

and ²⁶  we can follow his standards.” ²⁷ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ²⁸ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ³⁰ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ³¹ 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ³²  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ³³  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

[5:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 5. Appealing to God’s justice and commitment to the godly, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from evildoers.

[5:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew word נְחִילוֹת (nÿkhilot), which occurs only here, is uncertain. Many relate the form to חָלִיל (khalil, “flute”).

[5:1]  ³ tn Heb “my words.”

[5:1]  ⁴ tn Or “sighing.” The word occurs only here and in Ps 39:3.

[5:8]  ⁵ tn God’s providential leading is in view. His צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) includes here the deliverance that originates in his righteousness; he protects and vindicates the one whose cause is just. For other examples of this use of the word, see BDB 842 s.v.

[5:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 27:11; 56:2.

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “make level before me your way.” The imperative “make level” is Hiphil in the Kethib (consonantal text); Piel in the Qere (marginal reading). God’s “way” is here the way in which he leads the psalmist providentially (see the preceding line, where the psalmist asks the Lord to lead him).

[27:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles which he expects the psalmist to follow. See Ps 25:4.

[27:11]  ⁹ sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).

[27:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.

[86:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles he expects the psalmist to follow. See Pss 25:4; 27:11.

[86:11]  ¹² tn Heb “I will walk in your truth.” The Lord’s commandments are referred to as “truth” here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will. See Ps 25:5.

[86:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “Bind my heart to the fearing of your name.” The verb translated “bind” occurs only here in the Piel stem. It appears twice in the Qal, meaning “be joined” in both cases (Gen 49:6; Isa 14:20). To “fear” God’s name means to have a healthy respect for him which in turn motivates one to obey his commands (see Pss 61:5; 102:15).

[119:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the way of your precepts make me understand.”

[119:27]  ¹⁵ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your amazing things,” which refers here to the teachings of the law (see v. 18).

[143:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “cause me to hear in the morning your loyal love.” Here “loyal love” probably stands metonymically for an oracle of assurance promising God’s intervention as an expression of his loyal love.

[143:8]  ¹⁸ sn The way probably refers here to God’s moral and ethical standards and requirements (see v. 10).

[143:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for to you I lift up my life.” The Hebrew expression נָאָשׂ נֶפֶשׁ (na’as nefesh, “to lift up [one’s] life”) means “to desire; to long for” (see Deut 24:15; Prov 19:18; Jer 22:27; 44:14; Hos 4:8, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 16).

[33:13]  ²⁰ tn The prayer uses the Hiphil imperative of the verb “to know.” “Cause me to know” is “show me, reveal to me, teach or inform me.” Moses wanted to know more of God’s dealings with people, especially after all that has happened in the preceding chapter.

[33:13]  ²¹ tn The imperfect tense of the verb “to know” with the vav follows the imperative of this root, and so this indicates the purpose clause (final imperfect): “in order that I may know you.” S. R. Driver summarizes it this way: that I may understand what your nature and character is, and shape my petitions accordingly, so that I may find grace in your sight, and my future prayers may be answered (Exodus, 361).

[33:13]  ²² tn The purpose clause simply uses the imperfect, “that I may find.” But since he already has found favor in God’s eyes, he is clearly praying that it be so in the future as well as now.

[33:13]  ²³ tn The verb “see” (an imperative) is a request for God to acknowledge Israel as his people by providing the divine leadership needed. So his main appeal will be for the people and not himself. To underscore this, he repeats “see” the way the section opened.

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).

[2:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ²⁶ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[6:16]  ³⁰ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ³² tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ³³ tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”