Discovery BoxPsalms 109:21-27 
Context109:21 O sovereign Lord,
intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation! 1
Because your loyal love is good, deliver me!
109:22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me. 2
109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; 3
I am shaken off like a locust.
109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; 4
I have turned into skin and bones. 5
109:25 I am disdained by them. 6
When they see me, they shake their heads. 7
109:26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me! 8
109:27 Then they will realize 9 this is your work, 10
and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
1 tn Heb “but you,
2 tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbiy yakhil bÿqirbbiy, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).
3 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
4 tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”
5 tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”
6 tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”
7 sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.
8 tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”
9 tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
10 tn Heb “that your hand [is] this.”
