Mazmur 17:15

17:15 As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face; ¹ 

when I awake you will reveal yourself to me. ² 

Mazmur 19:13

19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ³  sins;

do not allow such sins to control me. ⁴ 

Then I will be blameless,

and innocent of blatant ⁵  rebellion.

Mazmur 26:1

Psalm 26 ⁶ 

By David.

26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have integrity, ⁷ 

and I trust in the Lord without wavering.

Mazmur 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ⁸ 

powerful men stalk ⁹  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ¹⁰ 

[17:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”

[17:15]  ² tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.

[17:15]  sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.

[19:13]  ³ tn Or “presumptuous.”

[19:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “let them not rule over me.”

[19:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “great.”

[26:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.

[26:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”

[59:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ¹⁰ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.