Discovery BoxPsalms 41:3 
Context41:3 The Lord supports 1 him on his sickbed;
you completely heal him from his illness. 2
Psalms 57:2
Context57:2 I cry out for help to the sovereign God, 3
to the God who vindicates 4 me.
Psalms 74:3
Context74:3 Hurry and look 5 at the permanent ruins,
and all the damage the enemy has done to the temple! 6
Psalms 77:8
Context77:8 Has his loyal love disappeared forever?
Has his promise 7 failed forever?
Psalms 107:27
Context107:27 They swayed 8 and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill proved ineffective. 9
Psalms 119:69
Context119:69 Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies, 10
but I observe your precepts with all my heart.
Psalms 135:18
Context135:18 Those who make them will end up 11 like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
Psalms 142:2
Context142:2 I pour out my lament before him;
I tell him about 12 my troubles.
1 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive, continuing the prayer of v. 2, but the parallel line in v. 3b employs the perfect, suggesting that the psalmist is again speaking in the indicative mood (see v. 1b). The imperfect can be understood as future or as generalizing (see v. 1).
2 tn Heb “all his bed you turn in his illness.” The perfect is used here in a generalizing sense (see v. 1) or in a rhetorical manner to emphasize that the healing is as good as done.
3 tn Heb “to God Most High.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.
4 tn Or “avenges in favor of.”
5 tn Heb “lift up your steps to,” which may mean “run, hurry.”
6 tn Heb “everything [the] enemy has damaged in the holy place.”
7 tn Heb “word,” which may refer here to God’s word of promise (note the reference to “loyal love” in the preceding line).
8 tn Only here does the Hebrew verb חָגַג (khagag; normally meaning “to celebrate”) carry the nuance “to sway.”
9 tn The Hitpael of בָלַע (vala’) occurs only here in the OT. Traditionally the form is derived from the verbal root בלע (“to swallow”), but HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע understands a homonym here with the meaning “to be confused.”
10 tn Heb “smear over me a lie.”
11 tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”
sn Because the idols are lifeless, they cannot help their worshipers in times of crisis. Consequently the worshipers end up as dead as the gods in which they trust.
12 tn Heb “my trouble before him I declare.”
