Mazmur 34:19

34:19 The godly ¹  face many dangers, ² 

but the Lord saves ³  them ⁴  from each one of them.

Mazmur 38:1-8

Psalm 38 ⁵ 

A psalm of David, written to get God’s attention. ⁶ 

38:1 O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger!

Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury! ⁷ 

38:2 For your arrows pierce ⁸  me,

and your hand presses me down. ⁹ 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ¹⁰ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ¹¹ 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ¹² 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ¹³  are infected and starting to smell, ¹⁴ 

because of my foolish sins. ¹⁵ 

38:6 I am dazed ¹⁶  and completely humiliated; ¹⁷ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ¹⁸ 

and my whole body is sick. ¹⁹ 

38:8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; ²⁰ 

I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ²¹ 

Mazmur 42:7

42:7 One deep stream calls out to another ²²  at the sound of your waterfalls; ²³ 

all your billows and waves overwhelm me. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 77:2-4

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ²⁵  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ²⁶ 

I ²⁷  refused to be comforted.

77:3 I said, “I will remember God while I groan;

I will think about him while my strength leaves me.” ²⁸  (Selah)

77:4 You held my eyelids open; ²⁹ 

I was troubled and could not speak. ³⁰ 

[34:19]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.

[34:19]  ² tn Or “trials.”

[34:19]  ³ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the godly.

[34:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.

[38:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 38. The author asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies. He confesses his sin and recognizes that the crisis he faces is the result of divine discipline. Yet he begs the Lord not to reject him.

[38:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads simply, “to cause to remember.” The same form, the Hiphil infinitive of זָכַר (zakhar, “remember”), also appears in the heading of Ps 70. Some understand this in the sense of “for the memorial offering,” but it may carry the idea of bringing one’s plight to God’s attention (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 303).

[38:1]  ⁷ tn The words “continue to” are supplied in the translation of both lines. The following verses make it clear that the psalmist is already experiencing divine rebuke/punishment. He asks that it might cease.

[38:1]  sn Compare Ps 38:1 with Ps 6:1, which has similar wording.

[38:2]  ⁸ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[38:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ¹² tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ¹³ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ¹⁶ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”

[38:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”

[42:7]  ²² tn Heb “deep calls to deep.” The Hebrew noun תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) often refers to the deep sea, but here, where it is associated with Hermon, it probably refers to mountain streams. The word can be used of streams and rivers (see Deut 8:7; Ezek 31:4).

[42:7]  ²³ tn The noun צִנּוֹר (tsinnor, “waterfall”) occurs only here and in 2 Sam 5:8, where it apparently refers to a water shaft. The psalmist alludes to the loud rushing sound of mountain streams and cascading waterfalls. Using the poetic device of personification, he imagines the streams calling out to each other as they hear the sound of the waterfalls.

[42:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “pass over me” (see Jonah 2:3). As he hears the sound of the rushing water, the psalmist imagines himself engulfed in the current. By implication he likens his emotional distress to such an experience.

[77:2]  ²⁵ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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).

[77:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I will remember God and I will groan, I will reflect and my spirit will grow faint.” The first three verbs are cohortatives, the last a perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. The psalmist’s statement in v. 4 could be understood as concurrent with v. 1, or, more likely, as a quotation of what he had said earlier as he prayed to God (see v. 2). The words “I said” are supplied in the translation at the beginning of the verse to reflect this interpretation (see v. 10).

[77:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you held fast the guards of my eyes.” The “guards of the eyes” apparently refers to his eyelids. The psalmist seems to be saying that God would not bring him relief, which would have allowed him to shut his eyes and get some sleep (see v. 2).

[77:4]  ³⁰ tn The imperfect is used in the second clause to emphasize that this was an ongoing condition in the past.