27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? 1
94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, 2
your soothing touch makes me happy. 3
6:22 When you walk about, 4 they 5 will guide you;
when you lie down, they will watch over you;
when you wake up, 6 they will talk 7 to you.
6:23 For the commandments 8 are like 9 a lamp, 10
instruction is like a light,
and rebukes of discipline are like 11 the road leading to life, 12
1 tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the
2 tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”
3 tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”
4 tn The verbal form is the Hitpael infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffixed subjective genitive to form a temporal clause. The term הָלַךְ (halakh) in this verbal stem means “to go about; to go to and fro.” The use of these terms in v. 22 also alludes to Deut 6:7.
5 tn Heb “it will guide you.” The verb is singular and the instruction is the subject.
6 tn In both of the preceding cola an infinitive construct was used for the temporal clauses; now the construction uses a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. The verb would then be equivalent to an imperfect tense, but subordinated as a temporal clause here.
7 sn The Hebrew verb means “talk” in the sense of “to muse; to complain; to meditate”; cf. TEV, NLT “advise you.” Instruction bound to the heart will speak to the disciple on awaking.
8 tn Heb “the commandment” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
9 tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
10 sn The terms “lamp,” “light,” and “way” are all metaphors. The positive teachings and commandments will illumine or reveal to the disciple the way to life; the disciplinary correctives will provide guidance into fullness of life.
11 tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
12 tn Heb “the way of life” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NIV, NLT “the way to life.” The noun “life” is a genitive following the construct “way.” It could be an attributive genitive modifying the kind of way/course of life that instruction provides, but it could also be objective in that the course of life followed would produce and lead to life.