Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ²  (Selah)

Psalms 6:6

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ³ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ⁴ 

Psalms 22:2

22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,

but you do not answer,

and during the night my prayers do not let up. ⁵ 

Psalms 63:6-8

63:6 whenever ⁶  I remember you on my bed,

and think about you during the nighttime hours.

63:7 For you are my deliverer; ⁷ 

under your wings ⁸  I rejoice.

63:8 My soul ⁹  pursues you; ¹⁰ 

your right hand upholds me.

Psalms 77:2-4

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ¹¹  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ¹² 

I ¹³  refused to be comforted.

77:3 I said, “I will remember God while I groan;

I will think about him while my strength leaves me.” ¹⁴  (Selah)

77:4 You held my eyelids open; ¹⁵ 

I was troubled and could not speak. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 26:9

26:9 I ¹⁷  look for ¹⁸  you during the night,

my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,

for when your judgments come upon the earth,

those who live in the world learn about justice. ¹⁹ 

[4:4]  ¹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[6:6]  ³ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[22:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”

[63:6]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term אִם (’im) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.

[63:7]  ⁷ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[63:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”

[63:8]  ⁹ tn Or “I.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[63:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “clings after.” The expression means “to pursue with determination” (see Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2; Jer 42:16).

[77:2]  ¹¹ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ¹² tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.

[77:2]  ¹³ tn Or “my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[77:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will remember God and I will groan, I will reflect and my spirit will grow faint.” The first three verbs are cohortatives, the last a perfect with vav (ו) consecutive. The psalmist’s statement in v. 4 could be understood as concurrent with v. 1, or, more likely, as a quotation of what he had said earlier as he prayed to God (see v. 2). The words “I said” are supplied in the translation at the beginning of the verse to reflect this interpretation (see v. 10).

[77:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you held fast the guards of my eyes.” The “guards of the eyes” apparently refers to his eyelids. The psalmist seems to be saying that God would not bring him relief, which would have allowed him to shut his eyes and get some sleep (see v. 2).

[77:4]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect is used in the second clause to emphasize that this was an ongoing condition in the past.

[26:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with my soul I.” This is a figure for the speaker himself (“I”).

[26:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “long for, desire.” The speaker acknowledges that he is eager to see God come in judgment (see vv. 8, 9b).

[26:9]  ¹⁹ tn The translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “those who live in the world learn to live in a righteous manner” (cf. NCV).