APPEAL FOR GUIDANCE AND HELP Save thy servant who trusteth in thee. For thou, O Lord, art good and forgiving, And abounding in mercy to all who call upon thee. And heed to the voice of my supplication. "I call upon thee in distress," for thou answerest me. O Lord, there are no works like thy works. And will glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great and a doer of wonders, 11Teach me, O Jehovah, thy way, That I may walk in thy truth alone; Let my heart rejoice' in fearing thy name. 12I will thank thee, O Lord," with my whole heart, 13 For great is thy lovingkindness toward me, Thou hast delivered me out of the depths of Sheol. 140 God, the insolent rise up against me, 15But thou art a Gode pitying and gracious, That my haters may see with shame, That thou dost aid and comfort me, O Jehovah. Thou alone art supreme Let me be assured of thy protection and care 86 Transferring the words thou art my God from the preceding line, where they are metrically superfluous, to this line, where they are demanded by the metre. 863 Certain MSS. read Jehovah at the end of this line. tions as well as the measure suggest that both are secondary. Trad. Heb., my God. The varia 86 Again the Heb. texts present the variant readings Lord and Jehovah. 7867 Heb., day of distress. 8611 Following the Gk. and Syr. 8612 Omitting the unmetrical my God. b861 Lit., my soul. 8615 Heb., Lord. d8617 Lit., a sign for good, i. e., give some sign of thy favor that will convince my enemies. •8617 Lit., and be filled with shame. Cry for deliver ance Already it is almost too late Why does God seem ingly abandon his ser vant § 162. A Prayer for Deliverance from Impending Death, Ps. 88 Ps. 88 1Jehovah, I cry for help' by day, I cry at night before thee. "Let my prayer enter into thy presence; "I am counted with those who go down to the grave," I am like a man who hath no help, "Cast off and among the dead,h Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom thou rememberest no more, Even those who are cut off from thy hand. "Thy wrath resteth heavily upon me, And all thy breakers thou hast brought upon me. 10 Wilt thou work a miracle for the dead? And thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But to thee, O Jehovah, I cry for help, And in the morning my prayer cometh before thee. 14Why, O Jehovah, dost thou reject me? Why dost thou hide from me thy face? 15 Afflicted and ready to die from my youth,i § 162 Delitzsch has rightly described this as the gloomiest of all the plaintive pss. It has affinities with Job, but the problem is physical, not moral. Imprisoned,, deserted by friends, the poet faces death, and he frankly confesses that he is appalled by its terrors. Does the abrupt ending mean that the grim messenger of darkness stayed his hand. As a national hymn it was well fitted to describe the agony of the early Maccabean era. 1881 With Duhm and others slightly revising the Heb., which reads, O Jehovah the God of my salvation. 888 Lit., pit; i. e., I am regarded as practically dead. b885 Heb. is evidently corrupt; the VSS. give little help. The above is based on a conjectural emendation that is in harmony with the context. 1887 So Gk., Syr., and Lat. RV translates Heb., thou hast afflicted me. DELIVERANCE FROM IMPENDING DEATH I suffer thy terrors, I am turned back.k 18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me,' § 163. Prayer of an Afflicted Suppliant, Ps. 1021-11, 23-27 Ps. 102 1Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And let my cry for help come to thee. 2Hide not from me thy face, In the day of my distress hasten to me," In the day when I call, answer me. For my days vanish away liken smoke, 'By reason of the sound of my groaning, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness; "Yea, I eat ashes like bread, And mix my drink with weeping, 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath, Fol 8815 Gk., Lat., and Syr. translate the three Heb. words in this line by three verbs. lowing this suggestion, Briggs (Pss., II, 248) reads, I endure, I am brought low, I am turned backward. In any case these VSS. are our best guide in interpreting the otherwise unknown final Heb. verb. 18818 Briggs transposes after the analogy of sa so as to read, thou hast removed from me mine acquaintance. § 163 This is appropriately described in its superscription as a prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before Jehovah. The sequel to 1 is found in 24-27, to which has been added 2 by an editor, who, quoting from the song of Hezekiah in Is. 3810, sought to weld together the two pss. The gloss is a weak repetition of the thought of 11, He hath brought down my strength in the way; he hath shortened my days. Vs. 4 is also introduced by, I say, O my God. The logical connection of this last stanza is close, for it suggests Jehovah's power to deliver. Originally this ps. appears to have voiced the psalmist's personal experience, although it was equally well fitted to express the feelings of the Jews during the first part of the Persian or the Maccabean periods. m 1022 Heb. has only to me, but the implied verb has, through a scribal error, been transferred to the end of the vs., where it is superfluous. n 1023 So Gk., Lat., and Targ. Heb., in. • 1024 Heb. adds, destroying the metre, and withered. P102 So Syr. Heb. has lost the final word. 41028 Or who pierce. Jehovah's power to deliver The atti tude of expec tancy For thou hast taken me up, and cast me away. 24Take me not away in the midst of my days; 25Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They will perish, but thou wilt endure; All of them will wear out like a garment, As a vesture wilt thou change them, and they will be changed; 27 But thou, Jehovah," art the same, Thy years have no end. § 164. An Expectant Prayer for Divine Help, Ps. 123 Ps. 123 1I lift up mine eyes to thee who art enthroned in the heavens. "Behold, as the eyes of servants look to their master's hand, As the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, So are our eyes to Jehovah, our God, until he is gracious to us. 'Be gracious to us, O Jehovah, be gracious to us, for we aret filled with contempt. "Our soul is exceedingly filled" with the contempt of the proud. Jehovah's judg ment V PRAYERS FOR JEHOVAH'S FORGIVENESS AND FAVOR § 165. Cry to Jehovah for Deliverance from Disease and Disgrace, Ps. 38 Ps. 38 10 Jehovah, rebuke me not in thy wrath, Neither chasten me in thy hot anger; "For thine arrows have pierced me home, And thy hand resteth heavily upon me." "There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine indignation, There is no health in my bones because of my sins. "For mine iniquities have mounted over my head, My burden is too heavy for me to bear. r10211 I. e., as a symbol of the declining day. 10227 Supplying the Jehovah demanded by the parallelism. § 164 This little ps. clearly comes from the latter part of the Gk. or the earlier days of the Maccabean period. The proud in are probably the apostate high priests and their supporters. 123 Heb. adds exceedingly, probably under the influence of the next line. 1234 A scribe has expanded this line by adding with the scorn of those without care. 165 This has all the marks of an individual ps. It is closely parallel in thought to many of the other pss. that come from the earlier part of the Persian period. 382 Possibly the text should be emended so as to read, thy hand is heavy upon me. Thou wilt answer, O my God, 16Lesti mine enemies rejoice over me. When my foot slippeth, they do great things against me; 17For I indeed am ready to halt, And my sorrow is continually before me.j 19 For those who hate me without cause are strong; And those who hate me wrongfully are many. 20They who render evil for good are mine adversaries, 21 Forsake me not, O Jehovah, O my God, be not far from me, 22 Make haste to help me,' O my salvation. 38 Slightly revising the Heb. text. d3810 So the Gk. and the demands of the context. 3811 Reconstructing the corrupt Heb. with the aid of the Gk. and the context. 13812 Possibly this line is secondary. 3813 A scribe has added a repetitious couplet: And I am as a man who doth not hear, And there is no reproof in his mouth. h3815 A scribe has added, in the Heb., Lord. 13816 So Gk. and the demands of the context. Through a scribal corruption the Heb. reads, for I said. 13817 The following liturgical note has been added, although it is not in harmony with the context, for I make known my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin. 3820 Possibly this line is corrupt. Certain Gk. MSS. have a widely different reading. 1382 The Heb. adds Lord. Jehovah his only hope |