104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,
so that they would not cover the earth again. 1
139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 2
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 3
1 tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”
2 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.
3 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”