Mazmur 25:1

Psalm 25 ¹ 

By David.

25:1 O Lord, I come before you in prayer. ² 

Mazmur 88:9

88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.

I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;

I spread out my hands in prayer to you. ³ 

Mazmur 30:2

30:2 O Lord my God,

I cried out to you and you healed me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 44:26

44:26 Rise up and help us!

Rescue us ⁵  because of your loyal love!

Mazmur 56:3

56:3 When ⁶  I am afraid,

I trust in you.

Mazmur 63:8

63:8 My soul ⁷  pursues you; ⁸ 

your right hand upholds me.

Mazmur 66:4

66:4 All the earth worships ⁹  you

and sings praises to you!

They sing praises to your name!” (Selah)

Mazmur 74:13

74:13 You destroyed ¹⁰  the sea by your strength;

you shattered the heads of the sea monster ¹¹  in the water.

Mazmur 119:64

119:64 O Lord, your loyal love fills the earth.

Teach me your statutes!

Mazmur 119:124

119:124 Show your servant your loyal love! ¹² 

Teach me your statutes!

Mazmur 123:1

Psalm 123 ¹³ 

A song of ascents. ¹⁴ 

123:1 I look up ¹⁵  toward you,

the one enthroned ¹⁶  in heaven.

Mazmur 130:1

Psalm 130 ¹⁷ 

A song of ascents. ¹⁸ 

130:1 From the deep water ¹⁹  I cry out to you, O Lord.

Mazmur 51:15

51:15 O Lord, give me the words! ²⁰ 

Then my mouth will praise you. ²¹ 

Mazmur 118:28

118:28 You are my ²²  God and I will give you thanks!

You are my God and I will praise you!

[25:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.

[25:1]  ² tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.

[88:9]  ³ tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.

[30:2]  ⁴ sn You healed me. Apparently the psalmist was plagued by a serious illness that threatened his life. See Ps 41.

[44:26]  ⁵ tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.

[56:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “[in] a day.”

[63:8]  ⁷ tn Or “I.” 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).

[63:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “clings after.” The expression means “to pursue with determination” (see Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2; Jer 42:16).

[66:4]  ⁹ tn Or “bows down to.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are taken (1) as imperfects expressing what is typical. Another option (2) is to interpret them as anticipatory (“all the earth will worship you”) or (3) take them as jussives, expressing a prayer or wish (“may all the earth worship you”).

[74:13]  ¹⁰ tn The derivation and meaning of the Polel verb form פּוֹרַרְתָּ (porarta) are uncertain. The form may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning “break, shatter,” though the biblical Hebrew cognate of this verb always appears in the Hiphil or Hophal stem. BDB 830 s.v. II פָּרַר suggests a homonym here, meaning “to split; to divide.” A Hitpolel form of a root פָּרַר (parar) appears in Isa 24:19 with the meaning “to shake violently.”

[74:13]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text has the plural form, “sea monsters” (cf. NRSV “dragons”), but it is likely that an original enclitic mem has been misunderstood as a plural ending. The imagery of the mythological sea monster is utilized here. See the note on “Leviathan” in v. 14.

[119:124]  ¹² tn Heb “do with your servant according to your loyal love.”

[123:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.

[123:1]  ¹⁴ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[123:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[123:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12).

[130:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 130. The psalmist, confident of the Lord’s forgiveness, cries out to the Lord for help in the midst of his suffering and urges Israel to do the same.

[130:1]  ¹⁸ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[130:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “depths,” that is, deep waters (see Ps 69:2, 14; Isa 51:10), a metaphor for the life-threatening danger faced by the psalmist.

[51:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “open my lips.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “and my mouth will declare your praise.”

[118:28]  ²² sn You are my God. The psalmist speaks again (see v. 21), responding to the words of the worshipers (vv. 22-27).