Mazmur 34:18

34:18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he delivers ¹  those who are discouraged. ² 

Mazmur 25:17

25:17 Deliver me from my distress; ³ 

rescue me from my suffering! ⁴ 

[34:18]  ¹ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the oppressed and needy.

[34:18]  ² tn Heb “the crushed in spirit.”

[25:17]  ³ tc Heb “the distresses of my heart, they make wide.” The text makes little if any sense as it stands, unless this is an otherwise unattested intransitive use of the Hiphil of רָחַב (rakhav, “be wide”). It is preferable to emend the form הִרְחִיבוּ (hirkhivu; Hiphil perfect third plural “they make wide”) to הַרְחֵיב (harkhev; Hiphil imperative masculine singular “make wide”). (The final vav [ו] can be joined to the following word and taken as a conjunction.) In this case one can translate, “[in/from] the distresses of my heart, make wide [a place for me],” that is, “deliver me from the distress I am experiencing.” For the expression “make wide [a place for me],” see Ps 4:1.

[25:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “from my distresses lead me out.”