Mazmur 34:6

34:6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;

he saved him ¹  from all his troubles.

Mazmur 34:17

34:17 The godly ²  cry out and the Lord hears;

he saves them from all their troubles. ³ 

Mazmur 40:12

40:12 For innumerable dangers ⁴  surround me.

My sins overtake me

so I am unable to see;

they outnumber the hairs of my head

so my strength fails me. ⁵ 

Mazmur 54:7

54:7 Surely ⁶  he rescues me from all trouble, ⁷ 

and I triumph over my enemies. ⁸ 

Mazmur 116:3

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ⁹ 

the snares ¹⁰  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ¹¹  with trouble and sorrow.

[34:6]  ¹ tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.

[34:17]  ² tn Heb “they” (i.e., the godly mentioned in v. 15).

[34:17]  ³ 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).

[40:12]  ⁴ tn Or “sinful deeds.” The Hebrew term used here can have a nonmoral nuance (“dangers”) or a moral one (“sinful deeds”) depending on the context. The next line (see “my sins”) seems to favor the moral sense, but the psalmist also speaks of enemies shortly after this (v. 14).

[40:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my heart abandons me.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of emotional strength and courage. For a similar idea see Ps 38:10.

[54:7]  ⁶ tn Or “for,” indicating a more specific reason why he will praise the Lord’s name (cf. v. 6).

[54:7]  ⁷ tn The perfects in v. 7 are probably rhetorical, indicating the psalmist’s 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 and his own vindication as if they were occurring or had already occurred.

[54:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and on my enemies my eyes look.”

[116:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ¹¹ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.