26:11 But I have integrity! 1
Rescue me 2 and have mercy on me!
31:5 Into your hand I entrust my life; 3
you will rescue 4 me, O Lord, the faithful God.
40:13 Please be willing, O Lord, to rescue me!
O Lord, hurry and help me! 5
44:26 Rise up and help us!
Rescue us 6 because of your loyal love!
49:7 Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother; 7
he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price 8
68:20 Our God is a God who delivers;
the Lord, the sovereign Lord, can rescue from death. 9
69:18 Come near me and redeem me! 10
Because of my enemies, rescue me!
82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!
Deliver them from the power 11 of the wicked!
91:3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter 12
and from the destructive plague.
116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,
“Please Lord, rescue my life!”
ר (Resh)
119:153 See my pain and rescue me!
For I do not forget your law.
143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!
I run to you for protection. 13
1 tn Heb “and I in my integrity walk.” The psalmist uses the imperfect verbal form to emphasize this is his practice. The construction at the beginning of the verse (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist and the sinners mentioned in vv. 9-10.
2 tn Or “redeem me.”
3 tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.
4 tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
5 tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Pss 22:19; 38:22.
6 tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.
7 tn Heb “a brother, he surely does not ransom, a man.” The sequence אִישׁ...אָח (’akh...’ish, “a brother…a man”) is problematic, for the usual combination is אָח...אָח (“a brother…a brother”) or אִישׁ...אִישׁ (“a man…a man”). When אִישׁ and אָח are combined, the usual order is אָח...אִישׁ (“a man…a brother”), with “brother” having a third masculine singular suffix, “his brother.” This suggests that “brother” is the object of the verb and “man” the subject. (1) Perhaps the altered word order and absence of the suffix can be explained by the text’s poetic character, for ellipsis is a feature of Hebrew poetic style. (2) Another option, supported by a few medieval Hebrew
8 tn Heb “he cannot pay to God his ransom price.” Num 35:31 may supply the legal background for the metaphorical language used here. The psalmist pictures God as having a claim on the soul of the individual. When God comes to claim the life that ultimately belongs to him, he demands a ransom price that is beyond the capability of anyone to pay. The psalmist’s point is that God has ultimate authority over life and death; all the money in the world cannot buy anyone a single day of life beyond what God has decreed.
9 tn Heb “and to the
10 tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the
11 tn Heb “hand.”
12 tn The word refers specifically to a fowler (or hunter of birds).
13 tn Heb “to you I cover,” which makes no sense. The translation assumes an emendation to נַסְתִּי (nastiy, “I flee,” a Qal perfect, first singular form from נוּס, nos). Confusion of kaf (כ) and nun (נ) is attested elsewhere (see P. K. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 48). The collocation of נוּס (“flee”) with אֶל (’el, “to”) is well-attested.