Mazmur 20:9

20:9 The Lord will deliver the king; ¹ 

he will answer us ²  when we call to him for help! ³ 

Mazmur 27:7

27:7 Hear me, ⁴  O Lord, when I cry out!

Have mercy on me and answer me!

Mazmur 30:8

30:8 To you, O Lord, I cried out;

I begged the Lord for mercy: ⁵ 

Mazmur 44:20

44:20 If we had rejected our God, ⁶ 

and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, ⁷ 

Mazmur 60:5

60:5 Deliver by your power ⁸  and answer me, ⁹ 

so that the ones you love may be safe. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 77:4

77:4 You held my eyelids open; ¹¹ 

I was troubled and could not speak. ¹² 

Mazmur 86:3

86:3 Have mercy on me, ¹³  O Lord,

for I cry out to you all day long!

Mazmur 86:7

86:7 In my time of trouble I cry out to you,

for you will answer me.

Mazmur 116:2

116:2 and listened to me. ¹⁴ 

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 116:17

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

Mazmur 118:5

118:5 In my distress ¹⁶  I cried out to the Lord.

The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 119:108

119:108 O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise! ¹⁸ 

Teach me your regulations!

Mazmur 119:147

119:147 I am up before dawn crying for help.

I find hope in your word.

Mazmur 119:169

ת (Tav)

119:169 Listen to my cry for help, ¹⁹  O Lord!

Give me insight by your word!

Mazmur 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ²⁰  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ²¹ 

Mazmur 138:3

138:3 When ²²  I cried out for help, you answered me.

You made me bold and energized me. ²³ 

Mazmur 143:6

143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; ²⁴ 

my soul thirsts for you in a parched ²⁵  land. ²⁶ 

[20:9]  ¹ tc This translation assumes an emendation of the verbal form הוֹשִׁיעָה (hoshi’ah). As it stands, the form is an imperative. In this case the people return to the petitionary mood with which the psalm begins (“O Lord, deliver”). But the immediate context is one of confidence (vv. 6-8), not petition (vv. 1-5). If one takes the final he on the verb “deliver” as dittographic (note the initial he (ה) on the following phrase, “the king”), one can repoint the verbal form as a perfect and understand it as expressing the people’s confidence, “the Lord will deliver the king” (see v. 6). The Hebrew scribal tradition takes “the king” with the following line, in which case it would be best interpreted as a divine title, “may the King answer us” or “the king will answer us” (see Pss 98:6; 145:1). However, the poetic parallelism is better balanced if “the king” is taken with the first line. In this case the referent is the Davidic king, who is earlier called the Lord’s “anointed one” (cf. note on “chosen king” in v. 6; see Pss 21:7; 45:5, 11; 63:11).

[20:9]  ² tn If the imperative is retained in the preceding line, then the prefixed verbal form is best taken as a jussive of prayer, “may he answer us.” However, if the imperative in the previous line is emended to a perfect, the prefixed form is best taken as imperfect, “he will answer us” (see the note on the word “king” at the end of the previous line).

[20:9]  ³ tn Heb “in the day we call.”

[27:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “my voice.”

[30:8]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 8 are probably preterites; the psalmist recalls that he prayed in his time of crisis.

[44:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the Lord’s authority (see Jer 23:27) and abandoning him as an object of prayer and worship (see the next line).

[44:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).

[60:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “right hand.”

[60:5]  ⁹ tn The Qere (marginal reading) has “me,” while the Kethib (consonantal text) has “us.”

[60:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “may be rescued.” The lines are actually reversed in the Hebrew text, “So that the ones you love may be rescued, deliver by your power and answer me.”

[77:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you held fast the guards of my eyes.” The “guards of the eyes” apparently refers to his eyelids. The psalmist seems to be saying that God would not bring him relief, which would have allowed him to shut his eyes and get some sleep (see v. 2).

[77:4]  ¹² tn The imperfect is used in the second clause to emphasize that this was an ongoing condition in the past.

[86:3]  ¹³ tn Or “show me favor.”

[116:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”

[116:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”

[118:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the distress.” The noun מֵצַר (metsar, “straits; distress”) occurs only here and in Lam 1:3. In Ps 116:3 מצר should probably be emended to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”).

[118:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord answered me in a wide open place.”

[119:108]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “of my mouth.”

[119:169]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “may my cry approach before you.”

[130:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ²¹ tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[138:3]  ²² tn Heb “in the day.”

[138:3]  ²³ tn Heb “you made me bold in my soul [with] strength.”

[143:6]  ²⁴ tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.

[143:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.

[143:6]  ²⁶ tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).