Mazmur 3:4

3:4 To the Lord I cried out, ¹ 

and he answered me from his holy hill. ²  (Selah)

Mazmur 7:17

7:17 I will thank the Lord for ³  his justice;

I will sing praises to the sovereign Lord! ⁴ 

Mazmur 18:41

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; ⁵ 

they cry out to the Lord, ⁶  but he does not answer them.

Mazmur 27:2

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁷ 

to devour my flesh, ⁸ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ⁹ 

they stumble and fall. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 34:17

34:17 The godly ¹¹  cry out and the Lord hears;

he saves them from all their troubles. ¹² 

Mazmur 35:8

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ¹³ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 39:2

39:2 I was stone silent; ¹⁵ 

I held back the urge to speak. ¹⁶ 

My frustration grew; ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 78:56

78:56 Yet they challenged and defied ¹⁸  the sovereign God, ¹⁹ 

and did not obey ²⁰  his commands. ²¹ 

Mazmur 116:16

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave. ²² 

You saved me from death. ²³ 

Mazmur 119:73

י (Yod)

119:73 Your hands made me and formed me. ²⁴ 

Give me understanding so that I might learn ²⁵  your commands.

Mazmur 142:5

142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my shelter,

my security ²⁶  in the land of the living.”

[3:4]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form could be an imperfect, yielding the translation “I cry out,” but the verb form in the next line (a vav [ו] consecutive with the preterite) suggests this is a brief narrative of what has already happened. Consequently the verb form in v. 4a is better understood as a preterite, “I cried out.” (For another example of the preterite of this same verb form, see Ps 30:8.) Sometime after the crisis arose, the psalmist prayed to the Lord and received an assuring answer. Now he confidently awaits the fulfillment of the divine promise.

[3:4]  ² sn His holy hill. That is, Zion (see Pss 2:6; 48:1-2). The psalmist recognizes that the Lord dwells in his sanctuary on Mount Zion.

[7:17]  ³ tn Heb “according to.”

[7:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “[to] the name of the Lord Most High.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case the compound “Lord Most High.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[18:41]  ⁵ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[18:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the Lord.” The words “they cry out” are supplied in the translation because they are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[18:41]  sn They cry out. This reference to the psalmist’s enemies crying out for help to the Lord suggests that the psalmist refers here to enemies within the covenant community, rather than foreigners. However, the militaristic context suggests foreign enemies are in view. Ancient Near Eastern literature indicates that defeated enemies would sometimes cry out for mercy to the god(s) of their conqueror. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 271.

[27:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ⁸ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[34:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they” (i.e., the godly mentioned in v. 15).

[34:17]  ¹² tn The three perfect verbal forms are taken in a generalizing sense in v. 17 and translated with the present tense (note the generalizing mood of vv. 18-22).

[35:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ¹⁴ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[39:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2]  sn I held back the urge to speak. For a helpful discussion of the relationship (and tension) between silence and complaint in ancient Israelite lamentation, see E. S. Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part I (FOTL), 166-67.

[39:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[78:56]  ¹⁸ tn Or “tested and rebelled against.”

[78:56]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “God, the Most High.”

[78:56]  ²⁰ tn Or “keep.”

[78:56]  ²¹ tn Heb “his testimonies” (see Ps 25:10).

[116:16]  ²² tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[116:16]  ²³ tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).

[119:73]  ²⁴ tn Heb “made me and established me.” The two verbs also appear together in Deut 32:6, where God, compared to a father, is said to have “made and established” Israel.

[119:73]  ²⁵ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[142:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.