Mazmur 38:2

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ² 

Mazmur 86:11

86:11 O Lord, teach me how you want me to live! ³ 

Then I will obey your commands. ⁴ 

Make me wholeheartedly committed to you! ⁵ 

Mazmur 109:18

109:18 He made cursing a way of life, ⁶ 

so curses poured into his stomach like water

and seeped into his bones like oil. ⁷ 

Mazmur 119:73

י (Yod)

119:73 Your hands made me and formed me. ⁸ 

Give me understanding so that I might learn ⁹  your commands.

[38:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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).

[86:11]  ³ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles he expects the psalmist to follow. See Pss 25:4; 27:11.

[86:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will walk in your truth.” The Lord’s commandments are referred to as “truth” here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will. See Ps 25:5.

[86:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Bind my heart to the fearing of your name.” The verb translated “bind” occurs only here in the Piel stem. It appears twice in the Qal, meaning “be joined” in both cases (Gen 49:6; Isa 14:20). To “fear” God’s name means to have a healthy respect for him which in turn motivates one to obey his commands (see Pss 61:5; 102:15).

[109:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

[109:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”

[119:73]  ⁸ tn Heb “made me and established me.” The two verbs also appear together in Deut 32:6, where God, compared to a father, is said to have “made and established” Israel.

[119:73]  ⁹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.