6:2 Have mercy on me, 1 Lord, for I am frail!
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! 2
31:9 Have mercy on me, for I am in distress!
My eyes grow dim 3 from suffering. 4
I have lost my strength. 5
41:4 As for me, I said: 6
“O Lord, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you!
41:10 As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,
so I can pay them back!” 7
140:6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
O Lord, pay attention to my plea for mercy!
1 tn Or “show me favor.”
2 tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.
3 tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”
4 tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.
5 tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.
6 sn In vv. 4-10 the psalmist recites the prayer of petition and lament he offered to the Lord.
7 tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) here indicates purpose or result (“Then I will repay them”) after the preceding imperatives.