ק (Qof)
3:55 I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit. 1
3:56 You heard 2 my plea: 3
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!” 4
3:57 You came near 5 on the day I called to you;
you said, 6 “Do not fear!”
ר (Resh)
3:58 O Lord, 7 you championed 8 my cause, 9
you redeemed my life.
3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf! 10
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me. 11
1 tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”
2 tn The verb could be understood as a precative, “hear my plea,” parallel to the following volitive verb, “do not close.”
3 tn Heb “my voice.”
4 tn The preposition ל (lamed) continues syntactically from “my plea” in the previous line (e.g. Ex 5:2; Josh 22:2; 1 Sam 8:7; 12:1; Jer 43:4).
5 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Draw near”). The perspective of the poem seems to be that of prayer during distress rather than a testimony that God has delivered.
6 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Say”).
7 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
8 tn This verb, like others in this stanza, could be understood as a precative (“Plead”).
9 tn Heb “the causes of my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).
10 tn Heb “Please judge my judgment.”
11 tc The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”); but many medieval Hebrew