Mazmur 119:143

119:143 Distress and hardship confront ¹  me,

yet I find delight in your commands.

Mazmur 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ² 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Mazmur 130:1-3

Psalm 130 ³ 

A song of ascents. ⁴ 

130:1 From the deep water ⁵  I cry out to you, O Lord.

130:2 O Lord, listen to me! ⁶ 

Pay attention to ⁷  my plea for mercy!

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ⁸  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ⁹ 

[119:143]  ¹ tn Heb “find.”

[119:176]  ² tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).

[130:1]  ³ sn Psalm 130. The psalmist, confident of the Lord’s forgiveness, cries out to the Lord for help in the midst of his suffering and urges Israel to do the same.

[130:1]  ⁴ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[130:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “depths,” that is, deep waters (see Ps 69:2, 14; Isa 51:10), a metaphor for the life-threatening danger faced by the psalmist.

[130:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “my voice.”

[130:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “may your ears be attentive to the voice of.”

[130:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ⁹ tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”