Mazmur 119:116-117

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, ¹  so that I will live. ² 

Do not disappoint me! ³ 

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus ⁴  on your statutes continually.

Mazmur 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ⁵ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Mazmur 38:21-22

38:21 Do not abandon me, O Lord!

My God, do not remain far away from me!

38:22 Hurry and help me, ⁶  O Lord, my deliverer!

Mazmur 51:11

51:11 Do not reject me! ⁷ 

Do not take your Holy Spirit ⁸  away from me! ⁹ 

Filipi 4:13

4:13 I am able to do all things ¹⁰  through the one ¹¹  who strengthens me.

[119:116]  ¹ tn Heb “according to your word.”

[119:116]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:116]  ³ tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

[119:117]  ⁴ tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.

[119:176]  ⁵ 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).

[38:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Ps 22:19.

[51:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”

[51:11]  ⁸ sn Your Holy Spirit. The personal Spirit of God is mentioned frequently in the OT, but only here and in Isa 63:10-11 is he called “your/his Holy Spirit.”

[51:11]  ⁹ sn Do not take…away. The psalmist expresses his fear that, due to his sin, God will take away the Holy Spirit from him. NT believers enjoy the permanent gift of the Holy Spirit and need not make such a request nor fear such a consequence. However, in the OT God’s Spirit empowered certain individuals for special tasks and only temporarily resided in them. For example, when God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him, the divine Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14).

[4:13]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek word translated “all things” is in emphatic position at the beginning of the Greek sentence.

[4:13]  ¹¹ tc Although some excellent witnesses lack explicit reference to the one strengthening Paul (so א* A B D* I 33 1739 lat co Cl), the majority of witnesses (א² D² [F G] Ψ 075 1881 Ï sy) add Χριστῷ (Cristw) here (thus, “through Christ who strengthens me”). But this kind of reading is patently secondary, and is a predictable variant. Further, the shorter reading is much harder, for it leaves the agent unspecified.