Mazmur 119:17

ג (Gimel)

119:17 Be kind to your servant!

Then I will live ¹  and keep ²  your instructions. ³ 

Mazmur 125:4

125:4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,

to the morally upright! ⁴ 

Yesaya 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ⁵ 

Is my hand too weak ⁶  to deliver ⁷  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ⁸  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ⁹ 

[119:17]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a cohortative indicating purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:17]  ² tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the imperative that begins the verse.

[119:17]  ³ tn Heb “your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss as well as several ancient versions read the plural here.

[125:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[50:2]  ⁵ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ⁷ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”