Discovery BoxPsalms 38:11 
Context38:11 Because of my condition, 1 even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; 2
my neighbors stand far away. 3
Psalms 50:11
Context50:11 I keep track of 4 every bird in the hills,
and the insects 5 of the field are mine.
Psalms 56:8
Context56:8 You keep track of my misery. 6
Put my tears in your leather container! 7
Are they not recorded in your scroll? 8
Psalms 88:18
Context88:18 You cause my friends and neighbors to keep their distance; 9
those who know me leave me alone in the darkness. 10
Psalms 119:34
Context119:34 Give me understanding so that I might observe your law,
and keep it with all my heart. 11
Psalms 130:3
Context130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of 12 sins,
O Lord, who could stand before you? 13
1 tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”
2 tn Heb “stand [aloof].”
3 tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”
4 tn Heb “I know.”
5 tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.
6 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.”
7 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.
8 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).
9 tn Heb “you cause to be far from me friend and neighbor.”
10 tn Heb “those known by me, darkness.”
11 tn The two prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the introductory imperative.
12 tn Heb “observe.”
13 tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”
