Discovery BoxPsalms 69:14-20 
Context69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink!
Deliver me 1 from those who hate me,
from the deep water!
69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!
Don’t let the deep swallow me up!
Don’t let the pit 2 devour me! 3
69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! 4
Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!
69:17 Do not ignore 5 your servant,
for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! 6
69:18 Come near me and redeem me! 7
Because of my enemies, rescue me!
69:19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated and disgraced;
you can see all my enemies. 8
69:20 Their insults are painful 9 and make me lose heart; 10
I look 11 for sympathy, but receive none, 12
for comforters, but find none.
1 tn Heb “let me be delivered.”
2 tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).
3 tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”
4 tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”
5 tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
6 tn Or “quickly.”
7 tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the
8 tn Heb “before you [are] all my enemies.”
9 tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.
10 tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.
11 tn Heb “wait.”
12 tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.
