Mazmur 119:143

119:143 Distress and hardship confront ¹  me,

yet I find delight in your commands.

Mazmur 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ² 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

[119:143]  ¹ tn Heb “find.”

[119:176]  ² tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).