Psalms 71:21

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

Turn and comfort me! ² 

Psalms 145:6

145:6 They will proclaim ³  the power of your awesome acts!

I will declare your great deeds!

Psalms 145:3

145:3 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise!

No one can fathom his greatness! ⁴ 

[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.)

[145:6]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”

[145:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and concerning his greatness there is no searching.”