Psalms 55:4-5

55:4 My heart beats violently ¹  within me;

the horrors of death overcome me. ² 

55:5 Fear and panic overpower me; ³ 

terror overwhelms ⁴  me.

Psalms 61:2

61:2 From the most remote place on earth ⁵ 

I call out to you in my despair. ⁶ 

Lead me ⁷  up to an inaccessible rocky summit! ⁸ 

Psalms 142:2-3

142:2 I pour out my lament before him;

I tell him about ⁹  my troubles.

142:3 Even when my strength leaves me, ¹⁰ 

you watch my footsteps. ¹¹ 

In the path where I walk

they have hidden a trap for me.

Psalms 143:4-5

143:4 My strength leaves me; ¹² 

I am absolutely shocked. ¹³ 

143:5 I recall the old days; ¹⁴ 

I meditate on all you have done;

I reflect on your accomplishments. ¹⁵ 

[55:4]  ¹ tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”

[55:4]  ² tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”

[55:5]  ³ tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”

[55:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.

[61:2]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “while my heart faints.”

[61:2]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[61:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “on to a rocky summit [that] is higher than I.”

[142:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “my trouble before him I declare.”

[142:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”

[142:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you know my path.”

[143:4]  ¹² tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”

[143:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “in my midst my heart is shocked.” For a similar use of the Hitpolel of שָׁמֵם (shamem), see Isa 59:16; 63:5.

[143:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “ancient times”; Heb “days from before.”

[143:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the work of your hands.”