Mazmur 116:16

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

I am your lowest slave. ¹ 

You saved me from death. ² 

Yesaya 19:21

19:21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they ³  will acknowledge the Lord’s authority ⁴  at that time. ⁵  They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.

Yeremia 50:5

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ⁶  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ⁷ 

[116:16]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).

[19:21]  ³ tn Heb “Egypt.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the present translation uses the pronoun (“they”) here.

[19:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “will know the Lord.”

[19:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 23 and 24.

[50:5]  ⁶ tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

[50:5]  ⁷ sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.