Psalms 127:2

127:2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,

and work so hard for your food. ¹ 

Yes, ²  he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep. ³ 

Psalms 84:6

84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, ⁴ 

he provides a spring for them. ⁵ 

The rain ⁶  even covers it with pools of water. ⁷ 

Psalms 57:8

57:8 Awake, my soul! ⁸ 

Awake, O stringed instrument and harp!

I will wake up at dawn! ⁹ 

Psalms 108:2

108:2 Awake, O stringed instrument and harp!

I will wake up at dawn! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 46:5

46:5 God lives within it, ¹¹  it cannot be moved. ¹² 

God rescues it ¹³  at the break of dawn. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 90:14

90:14 Satisfy us in the morning ¹⁵  with your loyal love!

Then we will shout for joy and be happy ¹⁶  all our days!

Psalms 101:8

101:8 Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land,

and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Psalms 63:1

Psalm 63 ¹⁷ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ¹⁸ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ¹⁹ 

My soul thirsts ²⁰  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ²¹  land where there is no water.

Psalms 78:34

78:34 When he struck them down, ²²  they sought his favor; ²³ 

they turned back and longed for God.

Psalms 119:147

119:147 I am up before dawn crying for help.

I find hope in your word.

Psalms 143:5

143:5 I recall the old days; ²⁴ 

I meditate on all you have done;

I reflect on your accomplishments. ²⁵ 

Psalms 55:19

55:19 God, the one who has reigned as king from long ago,

will hear and humiliate them. ²⁶  (Selah)

They refuse to change,

and do not fear God. ²⁷ 

[127:2]  ¹ tn Heb “[it is] vain for you, you who are early to rise, who delay sitting, who eat the food of hard work.” The three substantival participles are parallel and stand in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the preposition. See לָכֶם (lakhem, “for you”).

[127:2]  ² tn Here the Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4; Ps 63:2).

[127:2]  ³ tn Heb “he gives to his beloved, sleep.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew term שֵׁנָא (shena’, “sleep,” an alternate form of שֵׁנָה, shenah) is an adverbial accusative. The point seems to be this: Hard work by itself is not what counts, but one’s relationship to God, for God is able to bless an individual even while he sleeps. (There may even be a subtle allusion to the miracle of conception following sexual intercourse; see the reference to the gift of sons in the following verse.) The statement is not advocating laziness, but utilizing hyperbole to give perspective and to remind the addressees that God must be one’s first priority. Another option is to take “sleep” as the direct object: “yes, he gives sleep to his beloved” (cf. NIV, NRSV). In this case the point is this: Hard work by itself is futile, for only God is able to bless one with sleep, which metonymically refers to having one’s needs met. He blesses on the basis of one’s relationship to him, not on the basis of physical energy expended.

[84:6]  ⁴ tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”

[84:6]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, understand God to be the subject and the valley to be the object, “he [God] makes it [the valley] [into] a spring.”

[84:6]  ⁶ tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).

[84:6]  ⁷ tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).

[57:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “glory,” but that makes little sense in the context. Some view כָּבוֹד (kavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 30:12; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[57:8]  ⁸ tn BDB 1007 s.v. שַׁחַר takes “dawn” as an adverbial accusative, though others understand it as a personified direct object. “Dawn” is used metaphorically for the time of deliverance and vindication the psalmist anticipates. When salvation “dawns,” the psalmist will “wake up” in praise.

[108:2]  ¹⁰ tn BDB 1007 s.v. שַׁחַר takes “dawn” as an adverbial accusative, though others understand it as a personified direct object. “Dawn” is used metaphorically for the time of deliverance and vindication the psalmist anticipates. When salvation “dawns,” the psalmist will “wake up” in praise.

[46:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “God [is] within her.” The feminine singular pronoun refers to the city mentioned in v. 4.

[46:5]  ¹⁴ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “it will not be upended.” Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense. The verb מוֹט (mot), translated “upended” here, is used in v. 2 of the mountains “tumbling” into the seas and in v. 6 of nations being “upended.” By way of contrast, Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, is secure and immune from such turmoil and destruction.

[46:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “helps her.” The imperfect draws attention to the generalizing character of the statement.

[46:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “at the turning of morning.” (For other uses of the expression see Exod 14:27 and Judg 19:26).

[90:14]  ¹⁶ sn Morning is used metaphorically for a time of renewed joy after affliction (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 49:14; 59:16; 143:8).

[90:14]  ¹⁷ tn After the imperative (see the preceding line) the cohortatives with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose/result.

[63:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.

[63:1]  ²⁰ sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.

[63:1]  ²¹ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ²² tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ²³ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.

[78:34]  ²² tn Or “killed them,” that is, killed large numbers of them.

[78:34]  ²³ tn Heb “they sought him.”

[143:5]  ²⁵ tn Or “ancient times”; Heb “days from before.”

[143:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the work of your hands.”

[55:19]  ²⁸ tc Heb “God will hear and answer them, even [the] one who sits [from] ancient times.” The prefixed verbal from with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the anticipatory force of the preceding imperfect. The verb appears to be a Qal form from עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”). If this reading is retained, the point would be that God “answered” them in judgment. The translation assumes an emendation to the Piel וַיְעַנֵּם (vay’annem; see 2 Kgs 17:20) and understands the root as עָנָה (’anah, “to afflict”; see also 1 Kgs 8:35).

[55:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[the ones] for whom there are no changes, and they do not fear God.”