Psalms 69:20

Their insults are painful ¹  and make me lose heart; ²  I look ³  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁴  for comforters, but find none.

Job 16:2; Job 19:21,22; Ps 42:6; Ps 42:10; Ps 123:4; Ps 142:4; Isa 63:5; Mt 26:37,38; Mt 26:56; Mr 14:37,50; Joh 12:27; Joh 16:32; 2Ti 4:16,17; Heb 11:36

¹ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

² 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.

³ tn Heb “wait.”

⁴ 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.