Proverbs 6:22

6:22 When you walk about, ¹  they ²  will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, ³  they will talk ⁴  to you.

Leviticus 26:6

26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that ⁵  you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. ⁶  I will remove harmful animals ⁷  from the land, and no sword of war ⁸  will pass through your land.

Psalms 3:5

3:5 I rested and slept;

I awoke, ⁹  for the Lord protects ¹⁰  me.

Psalms 4:8

4:8 I will lie down and sleep peacefully, ¹¹ 

for you, Lord, make me safe and secure. ¹² 

Psalms 121:4-7

121:4 Look! Israel’s protector ¹³ 

does not sleep or slumber!

121:5 The Lord is your protector;

the Lord is the shade at your right hand.

121:6 The sun will not harm you by day,

or the moon by night. ¹⁴ 

121:7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;

he will protect your life.

Ezekiel 34:15

34:15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord.

[6:22]  ¹ 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.

[6:22]  ² tn Heb “it will guide you.” The verb is singular and the instruction is the subject.

[6:22]  ³ 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.

[6:22]  ⁴ 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.

[26:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[26:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).

[26:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.

[3:5]  ⁹ tn The three verbal forms that appear in succession here (perfect + vav [ו] consecutive with preterite + perfect) are most naturally taken as narrational. When the psalmist received an assuring word from the Lord, he was able to sleep calmly. Because the Lord was protecting him, he awoke safely from his sleep.

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “supports”; “sustains.” In this explanatory causal clause the imperfect verbal form probably has a habitual or present progressive nuance, for the psalmist is confident of God’s continual protection (see v. 3). Another option is to take the verb as a preterite, “for the Lord protected me.” In this case, the psalmist focuses specifically on the protection God provided while he slept.

[4:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in peace at the same time I will lie down and sleep.”

[4:8]  ¹² tn Heb “for you, Lord, solitarily, securely make me dwell.” The translation understands לְבָדָד (lÿvadad) as modifying the verb; the Lord keeps enemies away from the psalmist so that he is safe and secure. Another option is to take לְבָדָד with what precedes and translate, “you alone, Lord, make me secure.”

[121:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “the one who guards Israel.”

[121:6]  ¹⁴ sn One hardly thinks of the moon’s rays as being physically harmful, like those of the sun. The reference to the moon may simply lend poetic balance to the verse, but it is likely that the verse reflects an ancient, primitive belief that the moon could have an adverse effect on the mind (note the English expression “moonstruck,” which reflects such a belief). Another possibility is that the sun and moon stand by metonymy for harmful forces characteristic of the day and night, respectively.