Mazmur 34:6

34:6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;

he saved him ¹  from all his troubles.

Mazmur 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ² 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ³ 

Mazmur 55:16

55:16 As for me, I will call out to God,

and the Lord will deliver me.

Mazmur 56:9

56:9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help; ⁴ 

I know that God is on my side. ⁵ 

Mazmur 57:1-3

Psalm 57 ⁶ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ⁷  a prayer ⁸  of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. ⁹ 

57:1 Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me!

For in you I have taken shelter. ¹⁰ 

In the shadow of your wings ¹¹  I take shelter

until trouble passes.

57:2 I cry out for help to the sovereign God, ¹² 

to the God who vindicates ¹³  me.

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹⁴ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ¹⁵  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

[34:6]  ¹ tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.

[50:15]  ² tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ³ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[56:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “then my enemies will turn back in the day I cry out.” The Hebrew particle אָז (’az, “then”) is probably used here to draw attention to the following statement.

[56:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “this I know, that God is for me.”

[57:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 57. The psalmist asks for God’s protection and expresses his confidence that his ferocious enemies will be destroyed by their own schemes.

[57:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 58-59, 75.

[57:1]  ⁸ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56, 58-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[57:1]  ⁹ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when he fled from Saul and hid in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3.

[57:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my life has taken shelter.” The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[57:1]  ¹¹ sn In the shadow of your wings. The metaphor likens God to a protective mother bird (see also Pss 17:8; 36:7).

[57:2]  ¹² tn Heb “to God Most High.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[57:2]  ¹³ tn Or “avenges in favor of.”

[57:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”