Mazmur 12:1

Psalm 12 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the sheminith style; ²  a psalm of David.

12:1 Deliver, Lord!

For the godly ³  have disappeared; ⁴ 

people of integrity ⁵  have vanished. ⁶ 

Mazmur 22:1

Psalm 22 ⁷ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ⁸  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ⁹ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 42:6

42:6 I am depressed, ¹¹ 

so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan, ¹² 

from Hermon, ¹³  from Mount Mizar. ¹⁴ 

[12:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 12. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene, for society is overrun by deceitful, arrogant oppressors and godly individuals are a dying breed. When the Lord announces his intention to defend the oppressed, the psalmist affirms his confidence in the divine promise.

[12:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.

[12:1]  ³ tn The singular form is collective or representative. Note the plural form “faithful [ones]” in the following line. A “godly [one]” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Or “have come to an end.”

[12:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the faithful [ones] from the sons of man.”

[12:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb פָּסַס (pasas) occurs only here. An Akkadian cognate means “efface, blot out.”

[22:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ⁹ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[42:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.

[42:6]  ¹² tn Heb “therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan.” “Remember” is here used metonymically for prayer (see vv. 8-9). As the next line indicates, the region of the upper Jordan, where the river originates, is in view.

[42:6]  ¹³ tc Heb “Hermons.” The plural form of the name occurs only here in the OT. Some suggest the plural refers to multiple mountain peaks (cf. NASB) or simply retain the plural in the translation (cf. NEB), but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note that the next form in the text begins with the letter mem) or enclitic. At a later time it was misinterpreted as a plural marker and vocalized accordingly.

[42:6]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term מִצְעָר (mits’ar) is probably a proper name (“Mizar”), designating a particular mountain in the Hermon region. The name appears only here in the OT.