Psalms 66:16

66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God! ¹ 

I will declare what he has done for me.

Psalms 66:1

Psalm 66 ² 

For the music director; a song, a psalm.

66:1 Shout out praise to God, all the earth!

Psalms 17:1

Psalm 17 ³ 

A prayer of David.

17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! ⁴ 

Pay attention to my cry for help!

Listen to the prayer

I sincerely offer! ⁵ 

Psalms 17:1-2

Psalm 17 ⁶ 

A prayer of David.

17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! ⁷ 

Pay attention to my cry for help!

Listen to the prayer

I sincerely offer! ⁸ 

17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! ⁹ 

Decide what is right! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 4:1

Psalm 4 ¹¹ 

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

4:1 When I call out, answer me,

O God who vindicates me! ¹² 

Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. ¹³ 

Have mercy on me ¹⁴  and respond to ¹⁵  my prayer!

Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22 ¹⁶ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ¹⁷  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ¹⁸ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22 ²⁰ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ²¹  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ²² 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ²³ 

Psalms 16:4

16:4 their troubles multiply,

they desire other gods. ²⁴ 

I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods, ²⁵ 

nor will I make vows in the name of their gods. ²⁶ 

[66:16]  ¹ tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”

[66:1]  ² sn Psalm 66. The psalmist praises God because he has delivered his people from a crisis.

[17:1]  ³ sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.

[17:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”

[17:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”

[17:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.

[17:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”

[17:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”

[17:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.

[17:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)

[4:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “show me favor.”

[4:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hear.”

[22:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ¹⁸ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[22:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ²² sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ²³ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[16:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “their troubles multiply, another, they pay a dowry.” The meaning of the text is unclear. The Hebrew term עַצְּבוֹתָם (’atsÿvotam, “troubles”) appears to be a plural form of עַצֶּבֶת (’atsÿvet, “pain, wound”; see Job 9:28; Ps 147:3). Because idolatry appears to be in view (see v. 4b), some prefer to emend the noun to עַצְּבִים (’atsÿvim, “idols”). “Troubles” may be a wordplay on “idols” or a later alteration designed to emphasize that idolatry leads to trouble. The singular form אחר (“another”) is syntactically problematic here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a plural אֲחֵרִים (’akherim, “others”). (The final mem [ם] could have been lost by haplography; note the mem [מ] at the beginning of the next word.) In this case it might be taken as an abbreviated form of the well-attested phrase אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים (’elohim ’akherim, “other gods”). (In Isa 42:8 the singular form אַחַר (’akher, “another”) is used of another god.) The verb מָהַר (mahar) appears in the Qal stem; the only other use of a Qal verbal form of a root מָהַר is in Exod 22:15, where the denominative verb מָהֹר (mahor, “purchase [a wife]”) appears; cf. the related noun מֹהַר (mohar, “bride money, purchase price for a wife”). If that verb is understood here, then the idolaters are pictured as eager bridegrooms paying the price to acquire the object of their desire. Another option is to emend the verb to a Piel and translate, “hurry (after).”

[16:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood.” The third masculine plural suffix would appear to refer back to the people/leaders mentioned in v. 3. However, if we emend אֲחֵר (’akher, “another”) to the plural אֲחֵרִים (’akherim, “other [gods]”) in v. 4, the suffix can be understood as referring to these gods – “the drink offerings [made to] them.” The next line favors this interpretation. Perhaps this refers to some type of pagan cultic ritual. Elsewhere wine is the prescribed content of drink offerings.

[16:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and I will not lift up their names upon my lips.” The expression “lift up the name” probably refers here to swearing an oath in the name of deity (see Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). If so, the third masculine plural suffix on “names” likely refers to the pagan gods, not the people/leaders. See the preceding note.