Psalms 17:3

17:3 You have scrutinized my inner motives; ¹ 

you have examined me during the night. ² 

You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.

I am determined I will say nothing sinful. ³ 

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. ⁴ 

Psalms 42:8

42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ⁵ 

and by night he gives me a song, ⁶ 

a prayer ⁷  to the living God.

Psalms 63:6

63:6 whenever ⁸  I remember you on my bed,

and think about you during the nighttime hours.

Psalms 77:2

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ⁹  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ¹⁰ 

I ¹¹  refused to be comforted.

Psalms 77:6

77:6 I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang;

I will think very carefully.”

I tried to make sense of what was happening. ¹² 

Psalms 119:55

119:55 I remember your name during the night, O Lord,

and I will keep ¹³  your law.

Psalms 119:148

119:148 My eyes anticipate the nighttime hours,

so that I can meditate on your word.

Isaiah 26:9

26:9 I ¹⁴  look for ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶ 

Luke 6:12

Choosing the Twelve Apostles

6:12 Now ¹⁷  it was during this time that Jesus ¹⁸  went out to the mountain ¹⁹  to pray, and he spent all night ²⁰  in prayer to God. ²¹ 

[17:3]  ¹ tn Heb “you tested my heart.”

[17:3]  ² tn Heb “you visited [at] night.”

[17:3]  ³ tc Heb “you tested me, you do not find, I plan, my mouth will not cross over.” The Hebrew verbal form זַמֹּתִי (zammotiy) is a Qal perfect, first person singular from the root זָמַם (zamam, “plan, plan evil”). Some emend the form to a suffixed form of the noun, זִמָּתִי (zimmatiy, “my plan/evil plan”), and take it as the object of the preceding verb “find.” However, the suffix seems odd, since the psalmist is denying that he has any wrong thoughts. If one takes the form with what precedes, it might make better sense to read זִמּוֹת (zimmot, “evil plans”). However, this emendation leaves an unclear connection with the next line. The present translation maintains the verbal form found in the MT and understands it in a neutral sense, “I have decided” (see Jer 4:28). The words “my mouth will not cross over” (i.e., “transgress, sin”) can then be taken as a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb.

[22:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”

[42:8]  ⁵ sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).

[42:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”

[42:8]  ⁷ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”).

[63:6]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term אִם (’im) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.

[77:2]  ⁹ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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).

[77:6]  ¹² tn Heb “I will remember my song in the night, with my heart I will reflect. And my spirit searched.” As in v. 4, the words of v. 6a are understood as what the psalmist said earlier. Consequently the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 10). The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive at the beginning of the final line is taken as sequential to the perfect “I thought” in v. 6.

[119:55]  ¹³ tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve to obey the law.

[26:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with my soul I.” This is a figure for the speaker himself (“I”).

[26:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “long for, desire.” The speaker acknowledges that he is eager to see God come in judgment (see vv. 8, 9b).

[26:9]  ¹⁶ 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).

[6:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Now it happened that in.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[6:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:12]  ¹⁹ tn Or “to a mountain” (εἰς τὸ ὅρος, eis to Joro").

[6:12]  ²⁰ sn This is the only time all night prayer is mentioned in the NT.

[6:12]  ²¹ tn This is an objective genitive, so prayer “to God.”