Mazmur 26:1

Psalm 26 ¹ 

By David.

26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have integrity, ² 

and I trust in the Lord without wavering.

Mazmur 31:7

31:7 I will be happy and rejoice in your faithfulness,

because you notice my pain

and you are aware of how distressed I am. ³ 

Mazmur 40:17

40:17 I am oppressed and needy! ⁴ 

May the Lord pay attention to me! ⁵ 

You are my helper and my deliverer!

O my God, do not delay!

Mazmur 77:2

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ⁶  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ⁷ 

I ⁸  refused to be comforted.

[26:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.

[26:1]  ² tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”

[31:7]  ³ tn Heb “you know the distresses of my life.”

[40:17]  ⁴ sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.

[40:17]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a jussive of prayer (as in the present translation; cf. NIV) or as an imperfect, “The Lord will pay attention to me” (cf. NRSV). The parallel in Ps 70:5 has, “O God, hurry to me!” For this reason some prefer to emend יַחֲשָׁב (yakhashav, “may he pay attention”) to חוּשָׁה (khushah, “hurry!”). The syntax of the Hebrew text is awkward; elsewhere when the Qal of חָשַׁב (khashav, “reckon; consider”) is collocated with the preposition -ל (lamed) and a pronominal suffix there is an accompanying direct object or additional prepositional phrase/adverbial accusative (see Gen 15:6; 2 Sam 19:19; Job 13:24; 19:11; 33:10; Pss 32:2; 41:7; Amos 6:5).

[77:2]  ⁶ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.

[77:2]  ⁸ tn Or “my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).