Psalms 13:3

13:3 Look at me! ¹  Answer me, O Lord my God!

Revive me, ²  or else I will die! ³ 

Psalms 18:28

18:28 Indeed, ⁴  you are my lamp, Lord. ⁵ 

My God ⁶  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁷ 

Psalms 19:8

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ⁸ 

and make one joyful. ⁹ 

The Lord’s commands ¹⁰  are pure ¹¹ 

and give insight for life. ¹² 

Psalms 67:1

Psalm 67 ¹³ 

For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.

67:1 May God show us his favor ¹⁴  and bless us! ¹⁵ 

May he smile on us! ¹⁶  (Selah)

Psalms 77:18

77:18 Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind;

the lightning bolts lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 139:12

139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, ¹⁸ 

and the night is as bright as ¹⁹  day;

darkness and light are the same to you. ²⁰ 

[13:3]  ¹ tn Heb “see.”

[13:3]  ² tn Heb “Give light [to] my eyes.” The Hiphil of אוּר (’ur), when used elsewhere with “eyes” as object, refers to the law of God giving moral enlightenment (Ps 19:8), to God the creator giving literal eyesight to all people (Prov 29:13), and to God giving encouragement to his people (Ezra 9:8). Here the psalmist pictures himself as being on the verge of death. His eyes are falling shut and, if God does not intervene soon, he will “fall asleep” for good.

[13:3]  ³ tn Heb “or else I will sleep [in?] the death.” Perhaps the statement is elliptical, “I will sleep [the sleep] of death,” or “I will sleep [with the sleepers in] death.”

[18:28]  ⁴ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

[18:28]  ⁵ tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp, Lord.” 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neriy, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (’oriy, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 would, in this case, be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

[18:28]  ⁶ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

[18:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[19:8]  ⁷ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ¹⁰ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[67:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 67. The psalmist prays for God’s blessing upon his people and urges the nations to praise him for he is the just ruler of the world.

[67:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “have mercy on us.”

[67:1]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. Note the jussive form יָאֵר (ya’er) in the next line.

[67:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “may he cause his face to shine with us.”

[77:18]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[139:12]  ¹⁶ tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[139:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “shines like.”

[139:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”