Psalms 89:49

89:49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, ¹  O Lord, ² 

the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David? ³ 

Psalms 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ⁴ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ⁵ 

for we are in serious trouble! ⁶ 

[89:49]  ¹ sn The Lord’s faithful deeds are also mentioned in Pss 17:7 and 25:6.

[89:49]  ² tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read here יְהוָה (yehvah, “the Lord”).

[89:49]  ³ tn Heb “[which] you swore on oath to David by your faithfulness.”

[79:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “for we are very low.”