Mazmur 10:1

Psalm 10 ¹ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ² 

Mazmur 22:1

Psalm 22 ³ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ⁴  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ⁵ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ⁶ 

Mazmur 74:11-12

74:11 Why do you remain inactive?

Intervene and destroy him! ⁷ 

74:12 But God has been my ⁸  king from ancient times,

performing acts of deliverance on the earth. ⁹ 

[10:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ² tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[22:1]  ³ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ⁵ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[74:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.

[74:12]  ⁸ tn The psalmist speaks as Israel’s representative here.

[74:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the midst of the earth.”