Psalms 3:5

3:5 I rested and slept;

I awoke, ¹  for the Lord protects ²  me.

Psalms 4:8

4:8 I will lie down and sleep peacefully, ³ 

for you, Lord, make me safe and secure. ⁴ 

Psalms 41:8

41:8 They say, ⁵ 

‘An awful disease ⁶  overwhelms him, ⁷ 

and now that he is bed-ridden he will never recover.’ ⁸ 

Psalms 68:13

68:13 When ⁹  you lie down among the sheepfolds, ¹⁰ 

the wings of the dove are covered with silver

and with glittering gold. ¹¹ 

Psalms 57:4

57:4 I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down ¹²  among those who want to devour me; ¹³ 

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are a sharp sword. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 88:5

88:5 adrift ¹⁵  among the dead,

like corpses lying in the grave,

whom you remember no more,

and who are cut off from your power. ¹⁶ 

[3:5]  ¹ tn The three verbal forms that appear in succession here (perfect + vav [ו] consecutive with preterite + perfect) are most naturally taken as narrational. When the psalmist received an assuring word from the Lord, he was able to sleep calmly. Because the Lord was protecting him, he awoke safely from his sleep.

[3:5]  ² tn Or “supports”; “sustains.” In this explanatory causal clause the imperfect verbal form probably has a habitual or present progressive nuance, for the psalmist is confident of God’s continual protection (see v. 3). Another option is to take the verb as a preterite, “for the Lord protected me.” In this case, the psalmist focuses specifically on the protection God provided while he slept.

[4:8]  ³ tn Heb “in peace at the same time I will lie down and sleep.”

[4:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “for you, Lord, solitarily, securely make me dwell.” The translation understands לְבָדָד (lÿvadad) as modifying the verb; the Lord keeps enemies away from the psalmist so that he is safe and secure. Another option is to take לְבָדָד with what precedes and translate, “you alone, Lord, make me secure.”

[41:8]  ⁵ tn The words “they say” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to make it clear that v. 8 contains a quotation of what the psalmist’s enemies say about him (see v. 7a).

[41:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “thing of worthlessness.” In Ps 101:3 the phrase refers to evil deeds in general, but here it appears to refer more specifically to the illness that plagues the psalmist.

[41:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “is poured out on him.” The passive participle of יָצַק (yatsaq) is used.

[41:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he who lies down will not again arise.”

[68:13]  ⁷ tn Or “if.”

[68:13]  ⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “sheepfolds” is uncertain. There may be an echo of Judg 5:16 here.

[68:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and her pinions with the yellow of gold.”

[57:4]  ⁹ tn The cohortative form אֶשְׁכְּבָה (’eshkÿvah, “I lie down”) is problematic, for it does not seem to carry one of the normal functions of the cohortative (resolve or request). One possibility is that the form here is a “pseudo-cohortative” used here in a gnomic sense (IBHS 576-77 §34.5.3b).

[57:4]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb לָהַט (lahat) is here understood as a hapax legomenon meaning “devour” (see HALOT 521 s.v. II להט), a homonym of the more common verb meaning “to burn.” A more traditional interpretation takes the verb from this latter root and translates, “those who are aflame” (see BDB 529 s.v.; cf. NASB “those who breathe forth fire”).

[57:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my life, in the midst of lions, I lie down, devouring ones, sons of mankind, their teeth a spear and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.” The syntax of the verse is difficult. Another option is to take “my life” with the preceding verse. For this to make sense, one must add a verb, perhaps “and may he deliver” (cf. the LXX), before the phrase. One might then translate, “May God send his loyal love and faithfulness and deliver my life.” If one does take “my life” with v. 4, then the parallelism of v. 5 is altered and one might translate: “in the midst of lions I lie down, [among] men who want to devour me, whose teeth….”

[88:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “set free.”

[88:5]  ¹² tn Heb “from your hand.”