¹ tn Or “be watchful.”

² tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”

¹ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

¹ tn Grk “watch out for yourselves.”

² tn Heb “will watch over you.”

⁵ tn Heb “and I will watch.”

¹ tn Heb “at the head of the watches.”

¹ tn Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”

² tn Heb “watching over my word to do it.”

² tn Heb “his step”; cf. TEV “sensible people watch their step.”

¹ tn Heb “those who watch for my life consult together.”

¹ sn Disciples are to watch out. If they are too absorbed into everyday life, they will stop watching and living faithfully.

⁵ sn Watching…closely is a graphic term meaning to lurk and watch; see Luke 11:53-54.

¹ tn The precise meaning of the verb in this line is debated. Some prefer to derive the form from the homonymic צָפֹה (tsafoh, “keep watch”) and translate “post a guard” (cf. KJV “watch in the watchtower”; ASV “set the watch”).

² tn Heb “by the word of your lips, I, I have watched the paths of the violent” (i.e., “watched” in the sense of “watched for the purpose of avoiding”).

² tn The form צֹפוֹת (tsofot, “watching”) is a feminine plural participle agreeing with “eyes.” God’s watching eyes comfort good people but convict evil.

⁵ tn The imperfect verb here has a customary nuance—“when God would watch over me” (back then), or “when God used to watch over me.”

¹ sn The speech closes with a warning, “Watch out,” that also stresses culpability.

¹ tn Heb “You, Lord, know me. You watch me and you test my heart toward you.”

² sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”