Mazmur 13:1

Psalm 13 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ² 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ³ 

Mazmur 8:1

Psalm 8 ⁴ 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ⁵  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ⁶ 

how magnificent ⁷  is your reputation ⁸  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ⁹ 

[13:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.

[13:1]  ² tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ³ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[8:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.

[8:1]  ⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ⁶ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ⁷ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ⁹ tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.