Psalms 79:11

79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! ¹ 

Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! ² 

Psalms 141:1-2

Psalm 141 ³ 

A psalm of David.

141:1 O Lord, I cry out to you. Come quickly to me!

Pay attention to me when I cry out to you!

141:2 May you accept my prayer like incense,

my uplifted hands like the evening offering! ⁴ 

Psalms 141:1

Psalm 141 ⁵ 

A psalm of David.

141:1 O Lord, I cry out to you. Come quickly to me!

Pay attention to me when I cry out to you!

Psalms 8:1

Psalm 8 ⁶ 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ⁷  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ⁸ 

how magnificent ⁹  is your reputation ¹⁰  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ¹¹ 

Lamentations 3:8

3:8 Also, when I cry out desperately ¹²  for help, ¹³ 

he has shut out my prayer. ¹⁴ 

[79:11]  ¹ tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”

[79:11]  ² tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[141:1]  ³ sn Psalm 141. The psalmist asks God to protect him from sin and from sinful men.

[141:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “may my prayer be established [like] incense before you, the uplifting of my hands [like] an evening offering.”

[141:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 141. The psalmist asks God to protect him from sin and from sinful men.

[8:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.

[8:1]  ⁷ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ⁸ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ⁹ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ¹¹ tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.

[3:8]  ¹² tn Heb “I call and I cry out.” The verbs אֶזְעַק וַאֲשַׁוֵּעַ (’ez’aq va’asha’vvea’, “I call and I cry out”) form a verbal hendiadys: the second retains its full verbal sense, while the first functions adverbially: “I cry out desperately.”

[3:8]  ¹³ tn The verb שׁוע (“to cry out”) usually refers to calling out to God for help or deliverance from a lamentable plight (e.g., Job 30:20; 36:13; 38:41; Pss 5:3; 18:7, 42; 22:25; 28:2; 30:3; 31:23; 88:14; 119:147; Isa 58:9; Lam 3:8; Jon 2:3; Hab 1:2).

[3:8]  ¹⁴ tn The verb שָׂתַם (satam) is a hapax legomenon (term that appears in the Hebrew scriptures only once) that means “to stop up” or “shut out.” It functions as an idiom here, meaning “he has shut his ears to my prayer” (BDB 979 s.v.).