Psalms 13

How long will you forget me, LORD? Will it be forever? How long will you turn your face away from me?

1How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

Note"LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters usually written YHWH. Jewish readers avoided saying it aloud and substituted the ordinary word for "lord," and English translations follow that custom by using capitals. "Hiding the face" is a standard Hebrew idiom for withdrawing attention and favor. It pictures a king or patron who will no longer look at a petitioner, and so no longer acts on his behalf. The complaint is about being ignored, not about God being invisible. The Hebrew of the first line is compressed (literally "How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?") and "how long" is repeated four times across the first two verses, a set pattern in Hebrew laments.

2How long must I struggle with my own thoughts, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy stand over me as the winner?

2How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Note"Take counsel in my soul" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning something like "set plans in myself." It can mean turning a problem over and over without resolving it, or laying out one escape plan after another; the wording is open to both. "Soul" in Hebrew usage means the whole self (the person, their life and appetite), not an immaterial part housed inside a body. "Be exalted over me" is the language of a victor standing above a defeated opponent, as in a battle or a lawsuit.

3Look at me and answer me, LORD my God. Put light back in my eyes, or I will fall asleep in death.

3Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

Note"Lighten mine eyes" is an idiom for restoring strength and life. In Hebrew, bright eyes mean vigor and health; eyes that grow dim or dark signal exhaustion, grief, or approaching death. The request is to be kept alive, not to be given insight. "Sleep the sleep of death" uses sleep as a plain euphemism for dying, common in Hebrew and in the surrounding cultures.

4If I die, my enemy will say, "I beat him," and the people who torment me will be glad when I fall.

4Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

Note"When I am moved" translates a verb meaning to be shaken loose or knocked off one's footing, the image is of something firmly set that finally slips. It is used elsewhere for a person's position collapsing, and here it stands close to death without being simply a word for it.

5But I have trusted in your faithful love. My heart will be glad because you save me.

5But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

Note"Mercy" here renders the Hebrew word *chesed*, one of the hardest words in the Bible to put into English. It means loyal, committed kindness, the sort owed within a binding relationship, and gets translated variously as mercy, steadfast love, loving devotion, or faithful love. "Salvation" translates a Hebrew noun meaning rescue or deliverance from concrete danger: enemies, illness, death. It does not carry the later sense of salvation after death that the English word has picked up.

6I will sing to the LORD, because he has been very good to me.

6I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.