Discovery BoxPsalms 55:4-8 
Context55:4 My heart beats violently 1 within me;
the horrors of death overcome me. 2
55:5 Fear and panic overpower me; 3
terror overwhelms 4 me.
55:6 I say, 5 “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and settle in a safe place!
55:7 Look, I will escape to a distant place;
I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)
55:8 I will hurry off to a place that is safe
from the strong wind 6 and the gale.”
1 tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”
2 tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”
3 tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”
4 tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.
5 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.
6 tn Heb “[the] wind [that] sweeps away.” The verb סָעָה (sa’ah, “sweep away”) occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 120).
