Psalms 102:9

102:9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread, ¹ 

and mix my drink with my tears, ² 

Psalms 6:8

6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, ³ 

for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! ⁴ 

Psalms 30:5

30:5 For his anger lasts only a brief moment,

and his good favor restores one’s life. ⁵ 

One may experience sorrow during the night,

but joy arrives in the morning. ⁶ 

[102:9]  ¹ sn Mourners would sometimes put ashes on their head or roll in ashes as a sign of mourning (see 2 Sam 13:19; Job 2:8; Isa 58:5).

[102:9]  ² tn Heb “weeping.”

[6:8]  ³ tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

[6:8]  ⁴ sn The Lord has heard. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes because the Lord responded positively to the lament and petition of vv. 1-7 and promised him deliverance.

[30:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “for [there is] a moment in his anger, [but] life in his favor.” Because of the parallelism with “moment,” some understand חַיִּים (khayyim) in a quantitative sense: “lifetime” (cf. NIV, NRSV). However, the immediate context, which emphasizes deliverance from death (see v. 3), suggests that חַיִּים has a qualitative sense: “physical life” or even “prosperous life” (cf. NEB “in his favour there is life”).

[30:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the evening weeping comes to lodge, but at morning a shout of joy.” “Weeping” is personified here as a traveler who lodges with one temporarily.