Mazmur 10:17

10:17 Lord, you have heard ¹  the request ²  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ³ 

Mazmur 25:7

25:7 Do not hold against me ⁴  the sins of my youth ⁵  or my rebellious acts!

Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O Lord! ⁶ 

Mazmur 30:7

30:7 O Lord, in your good favor you made me secure. ⁷ 

Then you rejected me ⁸  and I was terrified.

Mazmur 39:4

39:4 “O Lord, help me understand my mortality

and the brevity of life! ⁹ 

Let me realize how quickly my life will pass! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 40:11

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold ¹¹  your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me! ¹² 

[10:17]  ¹ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ² tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ³ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[25:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.

[25:7]  ⁵ sn That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.

[25:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”

[30:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “in your good favor you caused to stand for my mountain strength.” Apparently this means “you established strength for my mountain” (“mountain” in this case representing his rule, which would be centered on Mt. Zion) or “you established strength as my mountain” (“mountain” in this case being a metaphor for security).

[30:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “you hid your face.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or, as here, carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Ps 88:14).

[39:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Cause me to know, O Lord, my end; and the measure of my days, what it is!”

[39:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”

[40:11]  ¹¹ tn Some (cf. NIV, NRSV) translate the verb as a request (“do not withhold”), but elsewhere in the psalms the second masculine singular prefixed form, when addressed to God and preceded by לֹא (lo’), is always indicative in mood and never has the force of a prayer (see Pss 16:10; 22:2; 44:9 51:16-17; 60:10; 108:11; cf. NEB, NASB).

[40:11]  ¹² tn In this line the psalmist makes the transition from confidence to petition (see v. 13). Since the prefixed verbal form in the preceding line is imperfect/indicative, one could take the verb in this line as imperfect as well and translate, “your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me” (cf. NEB). However, the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the next verse, if causal (“because”), is best understood as introducing a motivating argument in support of a petition. For this reason v. 11b is best taken as a prayer with the prefixed form being understood as jussive (cf. NIV, NRSV). For parallels to the proposed construction (jussive followed by כִּי + perfect introducing motivating argument), see Ps 25:21, as well as Pss 10:2-3; 22:8.