Mazmur 17:2

17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! ¹ 

Decide what is right! ² 

Mazmur 21:2

21:2 You grant ³  him his heart’s desire;

you do not refuse his request. ⁴  (Selah)

Mazmur 78:40

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him ⁵  in the desert!

[17:2]  ¹ tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.

[17:2]  ² tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)

[21:2]  ³ tn The translation assumes the perfect verbal forms in v. 2 are generalizing, stating factually what God typically does for the king. Another option is to take them as present perfects, “you have granted…you have not refused.” See v. 4, which mentions a specific request for a long reign.

[21:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the request of his lips you do not refuse.”

[78:40]  ⁵ tn Or “caused him pain.”