6:3 I am absolutely terrified, 1
and you, Lord – how long will this continue? 2
34:12 Do you want to really live? 3
Would you love to live a long, happy life? 4
35:28 Then I will tell others about your justice, 5
and praise you all day long. 6
37:26 All day long he shows compassion and lends to others, 7
and his children 8 are blessed.
38:6 I am dazed 9 and completely humiliated; 10
all day long I walk around mourning.
44:15 All day long I feel humiliated 11
and am overwhelmed with shame, 12
56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; 13
they make a habit of plotting my demise. 14
61:6 Give the king long life!
Make his lifetime span several generations! 15
71:8 I praise you constantly
and speak of your splendor all day long. 16
74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! 17
Remember how fools insult you all day long! 18
86:3 Have mercy on me, 19 O Lord,
for I cry out to you all day long!
88:17 They surround me like water all day long;
they join forces and encircle me. 20
89:16 They rejoice in your name all day long,
and are vindicated 21 by your justice.
91:16 I will satisfy him with long life, 22
and will let him see my salvation.
119:40 Look, I long for your precepts.
Revive me with your deliverance! 23
כ (Kaf)
119:81 I desperately long for 24 your deliverance.
I find hope in your word.
119:84 How long must your servant endure this? 25
When will you judge those who pursue me?
מ (Mem)
119:97 O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
119:131 I open my mouth and pant,
because I long 26 for your commands.
119:152 I learned long ago that
you ordained your rules to last. 27
119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;
I find delight in your law.
120:6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate 28 peace.
140:2 who plan ways to harm me. 29
All day long they stir up conflict. 30
1 tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.
2 tn Heb “and you,
3 tn Heb “Who is the man who desires life?” The rhetorical question is used to grab the audience’s attention. “Life” probably refers here to quality of life, not just physical existence or even duration of life. See the following line.
4 tn Heb “[Who] loves days to see good?”
5 tn Heb “and my tongue will proclaim your justice.”
6 tn Heb “all the day your praise.” The verb “proclaim” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the previous line).
7 tn The active participles describe characteristic behavior.
8 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
9 tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”
10 tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”
11 tn Heb “all the day my humiliation [is] in front of me.”
12 tn Heb “and the shame of my face covers me.”
13 tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”
14 tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”
15 tn Heb “days upon days of the king add, his years like generation and generation.”
sn It is not certain if the (royal) psalmist is referring to himself in the third person in this verse, or if an exile is praying on behalf of the king.
16 tn Heb “my mouth is filled [with] your praise, all the day [with] your splendor.”
17 tn Or “defend your cause.”
18 tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”
19 tn Or “show me favor.”
20 tn Heb “they encircle me together.”
21 tn Heb “are lifted up.”
22 tn Heb “length of days.”
23 tn Or “righteousness.”
24 tn Heb “my soul pines for.” See Ps 84:2.
25 tn Heb “How long are the days of your servant?”
26 tn The verb occurs only here in the OT.
27 tn Heb “long ago I knew concerning your rules, that forever you established them.” See v. 89 for the same idea. The translation assumes that the preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “your rules” introduces the object of the verb יָדַע (yada’), as in 1 Sam 23:23. Another option is that the preposition indicates source, in which case one might translate, “Long ago I realized from your rules that forever you established them” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
28 tn The singular participial form probably has a representative function here. The psalmist envisions the typical hater of peace who represents the entire category of such individuals.
29 tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”
30 tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.