Psalms 20:9

The Lord will deliver the king; ¹  he will answer us ²  when we call to him for help! ³ 

O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call!

Save, O LORD; May the King answer us in the day we call.

Give victory to our king, O LORD! Respond to our cry for help.

Make the king a winner, GOD; the day we call, give us your answer.

Come to our help, Lord: let the king give ear to our cry.

Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call.

Save, LORD! May the King answer us when we call.

The Lord will deliver the king; ¹  he will answer us ²  when we call to him for help! ³ 

¹ tc This translation assumes an emendation of the verbal form הוֹשִׁיעָה (hoshi’ah). As it stands, the form is an imperative. In this case the people return to the petitionary mood with which the psalm begins (“O Lord, deliver”). But the immediate context is one of confidence (vv. 6-8), not petition (vv. 1-5). If one takes the final he on the verb “deliver” as dittographic (note the initial he (ה) on the following phrase, “the king”), one can repoint the verbal form as a perfect and understand it as expressing the people’s confidence, “the Lord will deliver the king” (see v. 6). The Hebrew scribal tradition takes “the king” with the following line, in which case it would be best interpreted as a divine title, “may the King answer us” or “the king will answer us” (see Pss 98:6; 145:1). However, the poetic parallelism is better balanced if “the king” is taken with the first line. In this case the referent is the Davidic king, who is earlier called the Lord’s “anointed one” (cf. note on “chosen king” in v. 6; see Pss 21:7; 45:5, 11; 63:11).

² tn If the imperative is retained in the preceding line, then the prefixed verbal form is best taken as a jussive of prayer, “may he answer us.” However, if the imperative in the previous line is emended to a perfect, the prefixed form is best taken as imperfect, “he will answer us” (see the note on the word “king” at the end of the previous line).

³ tn Heb “in the day we call.”