Psalms 31:9-10

31:9 Have mercy on me, for I am in distress!

My eyes grow dim ¹  from suffering. ² 

I have lost my strength. ³ 

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ⁴ 

My strength fails me because of ⁵  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ⁶ 

Psalms 38:10

38:10 My heart beats quickly;

my strength leaves me;

I can hardly see. ⁷ 

Psalms 88:9

88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.

I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;

I spread out my hands in prayer to you. ⁸ 

Job 17:7

17:7 My eyes have grown dim ⁹  with grief;

my whole frame ¹⁰  is but a shadow.

Lamentations 5:17

5:17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; ¹¹ 

because of these things, we can hardly see ¹²  through our tears. ¹³ 

[31:9]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[31:9]  ² tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.

[31:9]  ³ tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.

[31:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[38:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the light of my eyes, even they, there is not with me.” The “light of the eyes” may refer to physical energy (see 1 Sam 14:27, 29), life itself (Ps 13:3), or the ability to see (Prov 29:23).

[88:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.

[17:7]  ⁹ tn See the usage of this verb in Gen 27:1 and Deut 34:7. Usually it is age that causes the failing eyesight, but here it is the grief.

[17:7]  ¹⁰ tn The word יְצֻרִים (yÿtsurim), here with a suffix, occurs only here in the Bible. The word is related to יָצַר (yatsar, “to form, fashion”). And so Targum Job has “my forms,” and the Vulgate “my members.” The Syriac uses “thoughts” to reflect יֵצֶר (yetser). Some have followed this to interpret, “all my thoughts have dissolved into shadows.” But the parallel with “eye” would suggest “form.” The plural “my forms, all of them” would refer to the whole body.

[5:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are faint” or “are sick.” The adjective דַּוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The related adjective דָּוֶה (daveh) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad.” The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery.”

[5:17]  ¹² tn Heb “our eyes are dim.” The physical description of losing sight is metaphorical, perhaps for being blinded by tears or more abstractly for being unable to see (= envision) any hope. The collocation “darkened eyes” is too rare to clarify the nuance.

[5:17]  ¹³ tn The phrase “through our tears” is added in the translation for the sake of clarification.