Psalms 25:7

25:7 Do not hold against me ¹  the sins of my youth ²  or my rebellious acts!

Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O Lord! ³ 

Psalms 27:13

27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience

the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? ⁴ 

Psalms 31:19

31:19 How great is your favor, ⁵ 

which you store up for your loyal followers! ⁶ 

In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter ⁷  in you. ⁸ 

Psalms 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ⁹ 

The Lord bestows favor ¹⁰  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ¹¹ 

Psalms 85:1

Psalm 85 ¹² 

For the music director; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;

you restored the well-being of Jacob. ¹³ 

Psalms 86:17

86:17 Show me evidence of your favor! ¹⁴ 

Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ¹⁵ 

for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 101:6

101:6 I will favor the honest people of the land, ¹⁷ 

and allow them to live with me. ¹⁸ 

Those who walk in the way of integrity will attend me. ¹⁹ 

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¹ tn Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.

² sn That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.

³ tn Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”

⁴ tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The words “Where would I be” are supplied in the translation to clarify the intent of the statement.

⁵ tn Or “How abundant are your blessings!”

⁶ tn Heb “for those who fear you.”

⁷ tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 34:21-22).

⁸ tn Heb “you work [your favor] for the ones seeking shelter in you before the sons of men.”

⁹ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

¹⁰ tn Or “grace.”

¹¹ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

¹² sn Psalm 85. God’s people recall how he forgave their sins in the past, pray that he might now restore them to his favor, and anticipate renewed blessings.

¹³ tn Heb “you turned with a turning [toward] Jacob.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv). See Pss 14:7; 53:6.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Work with me a sign for good.” The expression “work a sign” also occurs in Judg 6:17.

¹⁵ tn After the imperative in the preceding line (“work”), the prefixed verb forms with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose or result.

¹⁶ tn The perfect verbal forms are understood here as dramatic/rhetorical, expressing the psalmist’s certitude that such a sign from the Lord will be followed by his intervention. Another option is to understand the forms as future perfects (“for you, O Lord, will have helped me and comforted me”).

¹⁷ tn Heb “my eyes [are] on the faithful of the land.”

¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text simply reads, “in order to live with me.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “one who walks in the way of integrity, he will minister to me.”