Discovery BoxPsalms 19:4 
Context19:4 Yet its voice 1 echoes 2 throughout the earth;
its 3 words carry 4 to the distant horizon. 5
In the sky 6 he has pitched a tent for the sun. 7
Psalms 44:19
Context44:19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; 8
you have covered us with darkness. 9
Psalms 78:6
Context78:6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born,
might know about them.
They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. 10
Psalms 78:38
Context78:38 Yet he is compassionate.
He forgives sin and does not destroy.
He often holds back his anger,
and does not stir up his fury. 11
Psalms 119:161
Contextשׂ/שׁ (Sin/Shin)
119:161 Rulers pursue me for no reason,
yet I am more afraid of disobeying your instructions. 12
1 tc The MT reads, “their measuring line” (קוּם, qum). The noun קַו (qav, “measuring line”) makes no sense in this context. The reading קוֹלָם (qolam, “their voice”) which is supported by the LXX, is preferable.
2 tn Heb “goes out,” or “proceeds forth.”
3 tn Heb “their” (see the note on the word “its” in v. 3).
4 tn The verb is supplied in the translation. The Hebrew text has no verb; יָצָא (yatsa’, “goes out”) is understood by ellipsis.
5 tn Heb “to the end of the world.”
6 tn Heb “in them” (i.e., the heavens).
7 sn He has pitched a tent for the sun. The personified sun emerges from this “tent” in order to make its daytime journey across the sky. So the “tent” must refer metaphorically to the place where the sun goes to rest during the night.
8 tn Heb “yet you have battered us in a place of jackals.”
9 tn The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל+מָוֶת [mavet + tsel]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness” (cf. NIV, NRSV). An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 44:19 darkness symbolizes defeat and humiliation.
10 tn Heb “in order that they might know, a following generation, sons [who] will be born, they will arise and will tell to their sons.”
11 tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.
12 tn Heb “and because of your instructions my heart trembles.” The psalmist’s healthy “fear” of the consequences of violating God’s instructions motivates him to obey them. See v. 120.
