Mazmur 119:174-176

119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;

I find delight in your law.

119:175 May I ¹  live and praise you!

May your regulations help me! ² 

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ³ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

[119:175]  ¹ tn Heb “my life.”

[119:175]  ² tn God’s regulations will “help” the psalmist by giving him moral and ethical guidance.

[119:176]  ³ 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).