Mazmur 4:1
KonteksFor the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.
4:1 When I call out, answer me,
O God who vindicates me! 2
Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. 3
Have mercy on me 4 and respond to 5 my prayer!
Mazmur 51:1
KonteksFor the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. 7
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of 8 your loyal love!
Because of 9 your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! 10
Mazmur 86:5
Konteks86:5 Certainly 11 O Lord, you are kind 12 and forgiving,
and show great faithfulness to all who cry out to you.
Mazmur 103:8
Konteks103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient 13 and demonstrates great loyal love. 14
Mazmur 103:13
Konteks103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, 15
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. 16
Mazmur 119:132
Konteks119:132 Turn toward me and extend mercy to me,
as you typically do to your loyal followers. 17
Mazmur 130:4
Konteks
[4:1] 1 sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.
[4:1] 2 tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”
[4:1] 3 tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
[4:1] 4 tn Or “show me favor.”
[51:1] 6 sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586
[51:1] 7 tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”
[51:1] 8 tn Or “according to.”
[51:1] 9 tn Or “according to.”
[51:1] 10 tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”
[103:8] 13 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).
[103:8] 14 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).
[103:13] 15 tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.
[103:13] 16 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
[119:132] 17 tn Heb “according to custom toward the lovers of your name.” The “lovers of” God’s “name” are the
[130:4] 19 tn Heb “for with you [there is] forgiveness.”
