¹ tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

¹ tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Hear my plea”) parallel to the following volitive verb, “do not close.”

² tn Grk “by her continual coming,” but the point of annoyance to the judge is her constant pleas for justice (v. 3).

² tn Heb “let my plea for mercy fall before you.” That is, let it come before you and be favorably received (= granted; by metonymical extension).

⁴ tn Heb “Let me see your retribution [i.e., see you exact retribution] from them because I reveal my cause [i.e., plea for justice] to you.”

³ sn The word is דִּין (din, “judgment”; so KJV). In this passage it refers to the cause or the plea for justice, i.e., the “legal rights.”

² tn The Hiphil imperative of יָדַע (yadaʿ) would more literally be “cause me to know.” It is a plea for God to help him understand the afflictions.

¹ tn By juxtaposing the positive זְכֹר (z^ekhor, “remember”) with the negative אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (ʾal tishkakh, “do not forget”), Moses makes a most emphatic plea.

² tc The majority of mss (א L W Γ Δ 058 0281 ƒ^{1, 13} 33 565 579 1241 1424 M it sy^p,h co) begin the slave’s plea with “Lord” (κύριε, kurie), though a few key witnesses lack this vocative (B D Θ 700 lat sy^s,c Or Chr). Understanding the parable to refer to the Lord, scribes would be naturally prone to add the vocative here, especially as the slave’s plea is a plea for mercy. Thus, the shorter reading is more likely to be authentic.

³ tn The preposition ל (lamed) continues syntactically from “my plea” in the previous line (e.g. Ex 5:2; Josh 22:2; 1 Sam 8:7; 12:1; Jer 43:4).

² sn He has heard my plea for mercy. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes at this point because the Lord responded positively to his petition and assured him that he would deliver him.

² tn The Hebrew word used here is דִּין (din), which typically means “judgment,” but can also mean “strife” and “cause.” Here it refers to the “cause” of the poor (so KJV, ASV), their plea, their case, their legal rights. A righteous person is sympathetic to this.

⁴ tn Heb “be bold.” The verb רָהַב (rahav) means “to act stormily; to act boisterously; to act arrogantly.” The idea here is a strong one: storm against (beset, importune) your neighbor. The meaning is that he should be bold and not take no for an answer. Cf. NIV “press your plea”; TEV “beg him to release you.”

² tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).

⁴ tn This second use of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look, behold”) portrays the perspective of Aaron. The first הִנֵּה directed the audience’s attention to Miriam. Now we watch Aaron come to realize the same thing, leading into his plea in the next verse.

¹ tn Heb “but you have remembered me with you.” The perfect verbal form may be used rhetorically here to emphasize Joseph’s desire to be remembered. He speaks of the action as already being accomplished in order to make it clear that he expects it to be done. The form can be translated as volitional, expressing a plea or a request.

¹ tn Grk “My children, for whom I am again undergoing birth pains until Christ is formed in you.” The relative clauses in English do not pick up the emotional force of Paul’s language here (note “tone of voice” in v. 20, indicating that he is passionately concerned for them); hence, the translation has been altered slightly to capture the connotative power of Paul’s plea.

⁵ sn The demons’ plea “do not torment me” is a recognition of Jesus’ inherent authority over evil forces. The request is that Jesus not bother them. There was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.

⁴ tn The text has simply “yet my right is in it.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 49, 50) thinks this means that in his plea against God, Job has right on his side. It may mean this; it simply says “my righteousness is yet in it.” If the “in it” does not refer to Job’s cause, then it would simply mean “is present.” It would have very little difference either way.

¹ sn Integral to battered Jerusalem’s appeal, and part of the ancient Near-Eastern lament genre, is the request for God to look at her pain. This should evoke pity regardless of the reason for punishment. The request is not for God to see merely that there are misfortunes, as one might note items on a checklist. The cognitive (facts) and affective (feelings) are not divided. The plea is for God to watch, think about, and be affected by these facts while listening to the petitioner’s perspective.