Psalms 94:16-19

94:16 Who will rise up to defend me ¹  against the wicked?

Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? ² 

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ³ 

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, ⁴ 

your soothing touch makes me happy. ⁵ 

[94:16]  ¹ tn Heb “for me.”

[94:16]  ² sn Who will stand up for me…? The questions anticipate the answer, “No one except God” (see v. 17).

[94:17]  ³ tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.

[94:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”

[94:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”