² tn Grk “he asked his disciples, saying to them.” The phrase λέγων αὐτοῖς (legōn autois) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “asked them a question, saying.” The participle λέγων (legōn) is somewhat redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

³ sn Have mercy on us is a request for healing. It is not owed to the men. They simply ask for God’s kind grace.

¹ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the additional encouragement that God does respond to such requests/actions.

¹ sn The speaker (Zechariah) represents the Lord, who here is asking what his service as faithful shepherd has been worth in the opinion of his people Israel.

¹ tn Heb “Ask the priests a torah, saying”; KJV “concerning the law”; NAB “for a decision”; NCV “for a teaching”; NRSV “for a ruling.”

¹ tn Heb “Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him, and the king asked him privately [or more literally, in secret] and said.”

³ tn The imperative הַשְׁמִיעִינִי (hashmiʿini) functions as a request. The lover asks his beloved to let him hear her beautiful voice (e.g., Song 2:14).

¹ sn Psalm 143. As in the previous psalm, the psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

¹ sn Psalm 140. The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his deadly enemies, calls judgment down upon them, and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.

¹ sn Psalm 109. Appealing to God’s justice, the psalmist asks God to vindicate him and to bring severe judgment down upon his enemies.

¹ sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.

¹ sn Psalm 80. The psalmist laments Israel’s demise and asks the Lord to show favor toward his people, as he did in earlier times.

¹ sn Psalm 70. This psalm is almost identical to Ps 40:13-17. The psalmist asks for God’s help and for divine retribution against his enemies.

¹ sn Psalm 57. The psalmist asks for God’s protection and expresses his confidence that his ferocious enemies will be destroyed by their own schemes.

¹ sn Who is this majestic king? Perhaps the personified gates/doors ask this question, in response to the command given in v. 7.

¹ sn The psalm concludes with a petition to the Lord, asking him to continue to intervene in strength for the king and nation.

¹ sn Psalm 7. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from his enemies. He protests his innocence and declares his confidence in God’s justice.

¹ sn Psalm 5. Appealing to God’s justice and commitment to the godly, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from evildoers.

³ sn Bildad is asking if Job thinks the whole moral order of the world should be interrupted for his sake, that he may escape the punishment for wickedness.