22:11 Do not remain far away from me,
for trouble is near and I have no one to help me. 1
22:19 But you, O Lord, do not remain far away!
You are my source of strength! 2 Hurry and help me! 3
32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, 4
my whole body wasted away, 5
while I groaned in pain all day long.
38:11 Because of my condition, 6 even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; 7
my neighbors stand far away. 8
55:6 I say, 9 “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and settle in a safe place!
102:23 He has taken away my strength in the middle of life; 10
he has cut short my days.
109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; 11
I am shaken off like a locust.
118:11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
119:115 Turn away from me, you evil men,
so that I can observe 12 the commands of my God. 13
138:6 Though the Lord is exalted, he takes note of the lowly,
and recognizes the proud from far away.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
1 tn Heb “and there is no helper.”
2 tn Heb “O my strength.”
3 tn Heb “hurry to my help.”
4 tn Heb “when I was silent.”
5 tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.
6 tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”
7 tn Heb “stand [aloof].”
8 tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”
9 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.
10 tn Heb “he has afflicted my strength in the way.” The term “way” refers here to the course of the psalmist’s life, which appears to be ending prematurely (vv. 23b-24).
11 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
12 tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
13 tn The psalmist has already declared that he observes God’s commands despite persecution, so here the idea must be “so that I might observe the commands of my God unhindered by threats.”