Psalms 56:8

56:8 You keep track of my misery. ¹ 

Put my tears in your leather container! ² 

Are they not recorded in your scroll? ³ 

Genesis 16:13

16:13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” ⁴  for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!” ⁵ 

Genesis 16:2

16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ⁶  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ⁷  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ⁸  Abram did what ⁹  Sarai told him.

Genesis 6:12

6:12 God saw the earth, and indeed ¹⁰  it was ruined, ¹¹  for all living creatures ¹²  on the earth were sinful. ¹³ 

Genesis 19:27

19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went ¹⁴  to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

Proverbs 15:3

15:3 The eyes of the Lord ¹⁵  are in every place,

keeping watch ¹⁶  on those who are evil and those who are good.

Isaiah 37:28

37:28 I know where you live

and everything you do

and how you rage against me. ¹⁷ 

Zechariah 4:10

4:10 For who dares make light of small beginnings? These seven eyes ¹⁸  will joyfully look on the tin tablet ¹⁹  in Zerubbabel’s hand. (These are the eyes of the Lord, which constantly range across the whole earth.)

[56:8]  ¹ tn Heb “my wandering you count, you.” The Hebrew term נֹד (nod, “wandering,” derived from the verbal root נוֹד, nod, “to wander”; cf. NASB) here refers to the psalmist’s “changeable circumstances of life” and may be translated “misery.” The verb סָפַר (safar, “count”) probably carries the nuance “assess” here. Cf. NIV “my lament”; NRSV “my tossings.”

[56:8]  ² tn Traditionally “your bottle.” Elsewhere the Hebrew word נֹאד (no’d, “leather container”) refers to a container made from animal skin which is used to hold wine or milk (see Josh 9:4, 13; Judg 4:19; 1 Sam 16:20). If such a container is metaphorically in view here, then the psalmist seems to be asking God to store up his tears as a reminder of his suffering.

[56:8]  ³ tn The word “recorded” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The rhetorical question assumes a positive response (see the first line of the verse).

[16:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “God of my seeing.” The pronominal suffix may be understood either as objective (“who sees me,” as in the translation) or subjective (“whom I see”).

[16:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “after one who sees me.”

[16:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.

[16:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.

[16:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “God saw how corrupt the earth was.”

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn The repetition in the text (see v. 11) emphasizes the point.

[6:12]  ¹² tn Heb “flesh.” Since moral corruption is in view here, most modern western interpreters understand the referent to be humankind. However, the phrase “all flesh” is used consistently of humankind and the animals in Gen 6-9 (6:17, 19; 7:15-16, 21; 8:17; 9:11, 15-17), suggesting that the author intends to picture all living creatures, humankind and animals, as guilty of moral failure. This would explain why the animals, not just humankind, are victims of the ensuing divine judgment. The OT sometimes views animals as morally culpable (Gen 9:5; Exod 21:28-29; Jonah 3:7-8). The OT also teaches that a person’s sin can contaminate others (people and animals) in the sinful person’s sphere (see the story of Achan, especially Josh 7:10). So the animals could be viewed here as morally contaminated because of their association with sinful humankind.

[6:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “had corrupted its way.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix on “way” refers to the collective “all flesh.” The construction “corrupt one’s way” occurs only here (though Ezek 16:47 uses the Hiphil in an intransitive sense with the preposition בְּ [bet, “in”] followed by “ways”). The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) means “to ruin, to destroy, to corrupt,” often as here in a moral/ethical sense. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to behavior or moral character, a sense that it frequently carries (see BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a).

[19:27]  ¹⁴ tn The words “and went” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:3]  ¹⁵ sn The proverb uses anthropomorphic language to describe God’s exacting and evaluating knowledge of all people.

[15:3]  ¹⁶ tn The form צֹפוֹת (tsofot, “watching”) is a feminine plural participle agreeing with “eyes.” God’s watching eyes comfort good people but convict evil.

[37:28]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “your going out and your coming in and how you have raged against me.” Several scholars have suggested that this line is probably dittographic (note the beginning of the next line). However, most English translations include the statement in question at the end of v. 28 and the beginning of v. 29. Interestingly, the LXX does not have this clause at the end of v. 28 and the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not have it at the beginning of v. 29. In light of this ambiguous manuscript evidence, it appears best to retain the clause in both verses.

[4:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “these seven.” Eyes are clearly intended in the ellipsis as v. 10b shows. As in 3:9 the idea is God’s omniscience. He who knows the end from the beginning rejoices at the completion of his purposes.

[4:10]  ¹⁹ tn This term is traditionally translated “plumb line” (so NASB, NIV, NLT; cf. KJV, NRSV “plummet”), but it is more likely that the Hebrew בְּדִיל (bÿdil) is to be derived not from בָּדַל (badal), “to divide,” but from a root meaning “tin.” This finds support in the ancient Near Eastern custom of placing inscriptions on tin plates in dedicatory foundation deposits.