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Psalm 142

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

A cry from the cave

1 With my voice I cry out to Yahweh; with my voice I make supplication to Yahweh. 2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. 3 When my spirit grows faint within me, You know my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a snare for me.

4 Look to my right hand and see: there is no one who takes notice of me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul. 5 I cry out to You, Yahweh; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." 6 Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Your name. The righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountifully with me.

Notes

  • 142:1 Title: on "Maskil" see the note at 32:1; this is the last of the thirteen psalms so titled. On "A prayer" (tefillah) see the note at 17:1. Like Psalm 57, the title sets the psalm "in the cave," either Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1) or the cave in the wilderness of En-gedi (1 Samuel 24:3; see the notes at 57:1 and at 1 Samuel 24:3). In Hebrew Bibles the title is verse 1, so the verse numbers there run one higher than in English Bibles.
  • 142:4 The right hand was the place of the defender (see the note at 109:31), and David finds no one standing there. "Takes notice of me" is makkir, "recognizes": no one will own him as a friend. The Hebrew verbs "look" and "see" can also be read as the psalmist's own looking, "I look to the right and see," as the ancient Greek took them.
  • 142:5 With no refuge left among men (verse 4), David names Yahweh Himself his refuge and his "portion" (chelek), the word for each tribe's share of the land; like the Levites, whose portion was Yahweh, he has no other (compare 16:5; 73:26). "The land of the living" is this present life, as in 27:13 and 116:9.
  • 142:7 "Prison" (masger, a place shut in) may be the cave itself, or any confinement from which only Yahweh can set him free. "Will surround me" (yakhtiru) comes from the root of keter, "crown": the righteous will gather around him like a crown when Yahweh has rescued him; the ancient Greek reads "the righteous will wait for me."

Psalm 141 · Psalm 143

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