Mazmur 77:2

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ¹  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ² 

I ³  refused to be comforted.

Mazmur 143:8

143:8 May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ⁴ 

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, ⁵ 

because I long for you. ⁶ 

[77:2]  ¹ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ² tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.

[77:2]  ³ tn Or “my soul.” 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).

[143:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “cause me to hear in the morning your loyal love.” Here “loyal love” probably stands metonymically for an oracle of assurance promising God’s intervention as an expression of his loyal love.

[143:8]  sn The morning is sometimes viewed as the time of divine intervention (see Pss 30:5; 59:16; 90:14).

[143:8]  ⁵ sn The way probably refers here to God’s moral and ethical standards and requirements (see v. 10).

[143:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “for to you I lift up my life.” The Hebrew expression נָאָשׂ נֶפֶשׁ (na’as nefesh, “to lift up [one’s] life”) means “to desire; to long for” (see Deut 24:15; Prov 19:18; Jer 22:27; 44:14; Hos 4:8, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 16).