Psalms 139:10-12

139:10 even there your hand would guide me,

your right hand would grab hold of me.

139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, ¹ 

and the light will turn to night all around me,” ² 

139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, ³ 

and the night is as bright as ⁴  day;

darkness and light are the same to you. ⁵ 

[139:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.

[139:11]  ² tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”

[139:12]  ¹ tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[139:12]  ² tn Heb “shines like.”

[139:12]  ³ tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”