Mazmur 38:4

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ¹ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

Mazmur 40:12

40:12 For innumerable dangers ²  surround me.

My sins overtake me

so I am unable to see;

they outnumber the hairs of my head

so my strength fails me. ³ 

Mazmur 40:2

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ⁴ 

out of the slimy mud. ⁵ 

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 12:7-13

12:7 Now take your positions, so I may confront you ⁷  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ⁸  12:8 When Jacob entered Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the Lord. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they led your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave ⁹  them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s ¹⁰  army, ¹¹  and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ¹²  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ¹³  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ¹⁴  12:11 So the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, ¹⁵  Barak, ¹⁶  Jephthah, and Samuel, ¹⁷  and he delivered you from the hand of the enemies all around you, and you were able to live securely.

12:12 “When you saw that King Nahash of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king will rule over us’ – even though the Lord your God is your king! 12:13 Now look! Here is the king you have chosen – the one that you asked for! Look, the Lord has given you a king!

Mikha 7:8-9

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, ¹⁸  do not gloat ¹⁹  over me!

Though I have fallen, I will get up.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. ²⁰ 

7:9 I must endure ²¹  the Lord’s anger,

for I have sinned against him.

But then ²²  he will defend my cause, ²³ 

and accomplish justice on my behalf.

He will lead me out into the light;

I will experience firsthand ²⁴  his deliverance. ²⁵ 

Roma 7:23-25

7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 7:25 Thanks be ²⁶  to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, ²⁷  I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but ²⁸  with my flesh I serve ²⁹  the law of sin.

Galatia 5:17

5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ³⁰  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ³¹  each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

[38:4]  ¹ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[40:12]  ² tn Or “sinful deeds.” The Hebrew term used here can have a nonmoral nuance (“dangers”) or a moral one (“sinful deeds”) depending on the context. The next line (see “my sins”) seems to favor the moral sense, but the psalmist also speaks of enemies shortly after this (v. 14).

[40:12]  ³ tn Heb “and my heart abandons me.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of emotional strength and courage. For a similar idea see Ps 38:10.

[40:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).

[40:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[40:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”

[12:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I will enter into judgment with you” (NRSV similar); NAB “and I shall arraign you.”

[12:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “all the just actions which he has done with you and with your fathers.”

[12:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “sold” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera”; NLT “he let them be conquered by Sisera.”

[12:9]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 D3; Map3 A2; Map4 C1.

[12:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “captain of the host of Hazor.”

[12:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and said.”

[12:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.

[12:10]  sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.

[12:10]  ¹⁴ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[12:11]  ¹⁵ sn Jerub-Baal (יְרֻבַּעַל) is also known as Gideon (see Judg 6:32). The Book of Judges uses both names for him.

[12:11]  ¹⁶ tc The MT has “Bedan” (בְּדָן) here (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). But a deliverer by this name is not elsewhere mentioned in the OT. The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta in reading “Barak.”

[12:11]  ¹⁷ tc In the ancient versions there is some confusion with regard to these names, both with regard to the particular names selected for mention and with regard to the order in which they are listed. For example, the LXX has “Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel.” But the Targum has “Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel,” while the Syriac Peshitta has “Deborah, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.”

[7:8]  ¹⁸ tn The singular form is understood as collective.

[7:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”

[7:8]  ²⁰ sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The Lord is the source of the latter.

[7:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “lift, bear.”

[7:9]  ²² tn Heb “until.”

[7:9]  ²³ tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”

[7:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[7:9]  ²⁵ tn Or “justice, vindication.”

[7:25]  ²⁶ tc ‡ Most mss (א* A 1739 1881 Ï sy) read “I give thanks to God” rather than “Now thanks be to God” (א¹ [B] Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506 pc), the reading of NA²⁷. The reading with the verb (εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ, eucaristw tw qew) possibly arose from a transcriptional error in which several letters were doubled (TCGNT 455). The conjunction δέ (de, “now”) is included in some mss as well (א¹ Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506 pc), but it should probably not be considered original. The ms support for the omission of δέ is both excellent and widespread (א* A B D 1739 1881 Ï lat sy), and its addition can be explained as an insertion to smooth out the transition between v. 24 and 25.

[7:25]  ²⁷ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[7:25]  ²⁸ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[7:25]  ²⁹ tn The words “I serve” have been repeated here for clarity.

[5:17]  ³⁰ tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.

[5:17]  ³¹ tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).