Psalms 71:21

71:21 Raise me to a position of great honor! ¹ 

Turn and comfort me! ² 

Psalms 106:45

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented ³  because of his great loyal love.

Psalms 119:52

119:52 I remember your ancient regulations, ⁴ 

O Lord, and console myself. ⁵ 

Psalms 119:76

119:76 May your loyal love console me,

as you promised your servant. ⁶ 

Psalms 119:82

119:82 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your promise to be fulfilled. ⁷ 

I say, ⁸  “When will you comfort me?”

Psalms 90:13

90:13 Turn back toward us, O Lord!

How long must this suffering last? ⁹ 

Have pity on your servants! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 135:14

135:14 For the Lord vindicates ¹¹  his people,

and has compassion on his servants. ¹² 

Psalms 69:20

69:20 Their insults are painful ¹³  and make me lose heart; ¹⁴ 

I look ¹⁵  for sympathy, but receive none, ¹⁶ 

for comforters, but find none.

Psalms 86:17

86:17 Show me evidence of your favor! ¹⁷ 

Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ¹⁸ 

for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 110:4

110:4 The Lord makes this promise on oath ²⁰  and will not revoke it: ²¹ 

“You are an eternal priest ²²  after the pattern of ²³  Melchizedek.” ²⁴ 

Psalms 23:4

23:4 Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, ²⁵ 

I fear ²⁶  no danger, ²⁷ 

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff reassure me. ²⁸ 

Psalms 77:2

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ²⁹  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ³⁰ 

I ³¹  refused to be comforted.

[71:21]  ¹ tn Heb “increase my greatness.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer or wish. The psalmist’s request for “greatness” (or “honor”) is not a boastful, self-serving prayer for prominence, but, rather, a request that God would vindicate by elevating him over those who are trying to humiliate him.

[71:21]  ² tn The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.)

[106:45]  ³ tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.

[119:52]  ⁵ tn Heb “I remember your regulations from of old.” The prepositional phrase “from of old” apparently modifies “your regulations,” alluding to the fact that God revealed them to Israel in the distant past. Another option is to understand the prepositional phrase as modifying the verb, in which case one might translate, “I have long remembered your regulations.”

[119:52]  ⁶ tn Or “find comfort.”

[119:76]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to your word to your servant.”

[119:82]  ⁹ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your word.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See Ps 69:3.

[119:82]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saying.”

[90:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Return, O Lord! How long?”

[90:13]  ¹² tn Elsewhere the Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) + the preposition עַל (’al) + a personal object has the nuance “be comforted concerning [the personal object’s death]” (see 2 Sam 13:39; Jer 31:15). However, here the context seems to demand “feel sorrow for,” “have pity on.” In Deut 32:36 and Ps 135:14, where “servants” is also the object of the preposition, this idea is expressed with the Hitpael form of the verb.

[135:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “judges,” but here the idea is that the Lord “judges on behalf of” his people. The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic actions.

[135:14]  ¹⁴ sn Verse 14 echoes Deut 32:36, where Moses affirms that God mercifully relents from fully judging his wayward people.

[69:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

[69:20]  ¹⁶ tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.

[69:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wait.”

[69:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.

[86:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Work with me a sign for good.” The expression “work a sign” also occurs in Judg 6:17.

[86:17]  ¹⁸ tn After the imperative in the preceding line (“work”), the prefixed verb forms with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose or result.

[86:17]  ¹⁹ tn The perfect verbal forms are understood here as dramatic/rhetorical, expressing the psalmist’s certitude that such a sign from the Lord will be followed by his intervention. Another option is to understand the forms as future perfects (“for you, O Lord, will have helped me and comforted me”).

[110:4]  ¹⁹ tn Or “swears, vows.”

[110:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “will not change his mind.” The negated Niphal imperfect of נָחַם (nakham) is a way of marking an announcement as an irrevocable decree. See 1 Sam 15:29; Ezek 24:14, as well as R. B. Chisholm, “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[110:4]  ²¹ sn You are an eternal priest. The Davidic king exercised a non-Levitical priestly role. The king superintended Judah’s cultic ritual, had authority over the Levites, and sometimes led in formal worship. David himself instructed the Levites to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chr 15:11-15), joined the procession, offered sacrifices, wore a priestly ephod, and blessed the people (2 Sam 6:12-19). At the dedication of the temple Solomon led the ceremony, offering sacrifices and praying on behalf of the people (1 Kgs 8).

[110:4]  ²² tn The phrase עַל־דִּבְרָתִי (’al-divratiy) is a variant of עַל־דִּבְרָת (’al-divrat; the final yod [י] being an archaic genitival ending), which in turn is a variant of עַל דָּבַר (’al davar). Both phrases can mean “concerning” or “because of,” but neither of these nuances fits the use of עַל־דִּבְרָתִי in Ps 110:4. Here the phrase probably carries the sense “according to the manner of.” See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 81.

[110:4]  ²³ sn The Davidic king’s priestly role is analogous to that of Melchizedek, who was both “king of Salem” (i.e., Jerusalem) and a “priest of God Most High” in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:18-20). Like Melchizedek, the Davidic king was a royal priest, distinct from the Aaronic line (see Heb 7). The analogy focuses on the king’s priestly role; the language need not imply that Melchizedek himself was “an eternal priest.”

[23:4]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל [tsel] + מָוֶת [mavet]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צָלַם, tsalam) meaning “darkness.” An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. If the word does indeed mean “darkness,” it modifies גַיְא (gay’, “valley, ravine”) quite naturally. At the metaphorical level, v. 4 pictures the shepherd taking his sheep through a dark ravine where predators might lurk. The life-threatening situations faced by the psalmist are the underlying reality behind the imagery.

[23:4]  ²² tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 4, as in vv. 1-3, highlight what is typical in the psalmist’s experience.

[23:4]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term רַע (ra’) is traditionally translated “evil” here, perhaps suggesting a moral or ethical nuance. But at the level of the metaphor, the word means “danger, injury, harm,” as a sheep might experience from a predator. The life-threatening dangers faced by the psalmist, especially the enemies mentioned in v. 5, are the underlying reality.

[23:4]  ²⁴ tn The Piel of נָחַם (nakham), when used with a human object, means “comfort, console.” But here, within the metaphorical framework, it refers to the way in which a shepherd uses his implements to assure the sheep of his presence and calm their nerves. The underlying reality is the emotional stability God provides the psalmist during life threatening situations.

[77:2]  ²³ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.

[77:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).