Psalms 5:2

5:2 Pay attention to my cry for help,

my king and my God,

for I am praying to you!

Psalms 28:2

28:2 Hear my plea for mercy when I cry out to you for help,

when I lift my hands ¹  toward your holy temple! ² 

Psalms 59:17

59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! ³ 

For God is my refuge, ⁴  the God who loves me. ⁵ 

Psalms 61:2

61:2 From the most remote place on earth ⁶ 

I call out to you in my despair. ⁷ 

Lead me ⁸  up to an inaccessible rocky summit! ⁹ 

Psalms 86:2

86:2 Protect me, ¹⁰  for I am loyal!

O my God, deliver your servant, who trusts in you!

Psalms 88:9

88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.

I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;

I spread out my hands in prayer to you. ¹¹ 

Psalms 141:8

141:8 Surely I am looking to you, ¹²  O sovereign Lord.

In you I take shelter.

Do not expose me to danger! ¹³ 

Psalms 142:5

142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my shelter,

my security ¹⁴  in the land of the living.”

Psalms 145:15

145:15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, ¹⁵ 

and you provide them with food on a regular basis. ¹⁶ 

[28:2]  ¹ sn I lift my hands. Lifting one’s hands toward God was a gesture of prayer.

[28:2]  ² tn The Hebrew term דְּבִיר (dÿvir, “temple”) actually refers to the most holy place within the sanctuary.

[59:17]  ¹ tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”

[59:17]  ² tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[59:17]  ³ tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”

[61:2]  ¹ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.” This may indicate (1) the psalmist is exiled in a distant land, or (2) it may be hyperbolic (the psalmist feels alienated from God’s presence, as if he were in a distant land).

[61:2]  ² tn Heb “while my heart faints.”

[61:2]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[61:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “on to a rocky summit [that] is higher than I.”

[86:2]  ¹ tn Heb “my life.”

[88:9]  ¹ tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.

[141:8]  ¹ tn Heb “my eyes [are] toward you.”

[141:8]  ² tn Heb “do not lay bare my life.” Only here is the Piel form of the verb collocated with the term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”). In Isa 53:12 the Lord’s servant “lays bare (the Hiphil form of the verb is used) his life to death.”

[142:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[145:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”

[145:15]  ² tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).