2 Samuel 22:7

22:7 In my distress I called to the Lord;

I called to my God. ¹ 

From his heavenly temple ²  he heard my voice;

he listened to my cry for help. ³ 

Psalms 118:5

118:5 In my distress ⁴  I cried out to the Lord.

The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. ⁵ 

[22:7]  ¹ tn In this poetic narrative the two prefixed verbal forms in v. 7a are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects. Note the use of the vav consecutive with the prefixed verbal form that follows in v. 7b.

[22:7]  ² tn Heb “from his temple.” Verse 10, which pictures God descending from the sky, indicates that the heavenly, not earthly, temple is in view.

[22:7]  ³ tn Heb “and my cry for help [entered] his ears.”

[118:5]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord answered me in a wide open place.”