Psalms 40:13
40:13 Please be willing, O Lord, to rescue me!
O Lord, hurry and help me! 1
Psalms 40:17
40:17 I am oppressed and needy! 2
May the Lord pay attention to me! 3
You are my helper and my deliverer!
O my God, do not delay!
1 tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Pss 22:19; 38:22.
2 sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.
3 tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a jussive of prayer (as in the present translation; cf. NIV) or as an imperfect, “The Lord will pay attention to me” (cf. NRSV). The parallel in Ps 70:5 has, “O God, hurry to me!” For this reason some prefer to emend יַחֲשָׁב (yakhashav, “may he pay attention”) to חוּשָׁה (khushah, “hurry!”). The syntax of the Hebrew text is awkward; elsewhere when the Qal of חָשַׁב (khashav, “reckon; consider”) is collocated with the preposition -ל (lamed) and a pronominal suffix there is an accompanying direct object or additional prepositional phrase/adverbial accusative (see Gen 15:6; 2 Sam 19:19; Job 13:24; 19:11; 33:10; Pss 32:2; 41:7; Amos 6:5).