Mazmur 13:2

13:2 How long must I worry, ¹ 

and suffer in broad daylight? ² 

How long will my enemy gloat over me? ³ 

Mazmur 32:9

32:9 Do not be ⁴  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ⁵ 

which will not obey you

unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ⁶ 

Mazmur 42:9

42:9 I will pray ⁷  to God, my high ridge: ⁸ 

“Why do you ignore ⁹  me?

Why must I walk around mourning ¹⁰ 

because my enemies oppress me?”

Mazmur 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ¹¹ 

Why do you reject me? ¹² 

Why must I walk around ¹³  mourning ¹⁴ 

because my enemies oppress me?

Mazmur 120:5

120:5 How miserable I am! ¹⁵ 

For I have lived temporarily ¹⁶  in Meshech;

I have resided among the tents of Kedar. ¹⁷ 

[13:2]  ¹ tn Heb “How long will I put counsel in my being?”

[13:2]  ² tn Heb “[with] grief in my heart by day.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “be exalted over me.” Perhaps one could translate, “How long will my enemy defeat me?”

[32:9]  ⁴ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

[32:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

[32:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”

[42:9]  ⁷ tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9]  ⁸ tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.

[42:9]  ⁹ tn Or “forget.”

[42:9]  ¹⁰ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[43:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ¹² tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

[43:2]  ¹³ tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

[43:2]  ¹⁴ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[120:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “woe to me.” The Hebrew term אוֹיָה (’oyah, “woe”) which occurs only here, is an alternate form of אוֹי (’oy).

[120:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I live as a resident alien.”

[120:5]  ¹⁷ sn Meshech was located in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). Kedar was located in the desert to east-southeast of Israel. Because of the reference to Kedar, it is possible that Ps 120:5 refers to a different Meshech, perhaps one associated with the individual mentioned as a descendant of Aram in 1 Chr 1:17. (However, the LXX in 1 Chr 1:17 follows the parallel text in Gen 10:23, which reads “Mash,” not Meshech.) It is, of course, impossible that the psalmist could have been living in both the far north and the east at the same time. For this reason one must assume that he is recalling his experience as a wanderer among the nations or that he is using the geographical terms metaphorically and sarcastically to suggest that the enemies who surround him are like the barbarians who live in these distant regions. For a discussion of the problem, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 146.