38:10 My heart beats quickly;
my strength leaves me;
I can hardly see. 1
55:4 My heart beats violently 2 within me;
the horrors of death overcome me. 3
109:22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me. 4
1 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).
2 tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”
3 tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”
4 tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbiy yakhil bÿqirbbiy, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).