139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 1
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 2
139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, 3
and the night is as bright as 4 day;
darkness and light are the same to you. 5
1 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
2 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”
3 tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “shines like.”
5 tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”