Mazmur 38:10

38:10 My heart beats quickly;

my strength leaves me;

I can hardly see. ¹ 

Mazmur 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ² 

all day long they say to me, ³  “Where is your God?”

Mazmur 102:9

102:9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread, ⁴ 

and mix my drink with my tears, ⁵ 

[38:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and the light of my eyes, even they, there is not with me.” The “light of the eyes” may refer to physical energy (see 1 Sam 14:27, 29), life itself (Ps 13:3), or the ability to see (Prov 29:23).

[42:3]  ² tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ³ tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[102:9]  ⁴ sn Mourners would sometimes put ashes on their head or roll in ashes as a sign of mourning (see 2 Sam 13:19; Job 2:8; Isa 58:5).

[102:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “weeping.”