Mazmur 31:5

31:5 Into your hand I entrust my life; ¹ 

you will rescue ²  me, O Lord, the faithful God.

Mazmur 69:18

69:18 Come near me and redeem me! ³ 

Because of my enemies, rescue me!

Mazmur 119:134

119:134 Deliver me ⁴  from oppressive men,

so that I can keep ⁵  your precepts.

[31:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.

[31:5]  ² tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[69:18]  ³ tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

[119:134]  ⁴ tn Or “redeem me.”

[119:134]  ⁵ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.