Psalms 141:5 
Context| NET © | May the godly strike me in love and correct me! May my head not refuse 1 choice oil! 2 Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds. 3 |
| NIV © | Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers; |
| NASB © | Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; It is oil upon the head; Do not let my head refuse it, For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds. |
| NLT © | Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they reprove me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it. But I am in constant prayer against the wicked and their deeds. |
| MSG © | May the Just One set me straight, may the Kind One correct me, Don't let sin anoint my head. I'm praying hard against their evil ways! |
| BBE © | Let the upright give me punishment; and let the god-fearing man put me in the right way; but I will not let the oil of sinners come on my head: when they do evil I will give myself to prayer. |
| NRSV © | Let the righteous strike me; let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head, for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds. |
| NKJV © | Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; It shall be as excellent oil; Let my head not refuse it. For still my prayer is against the deeds of the wicked. |
| KJV | Let the righteous <06662> me; [it shall be] a kindness <02617>_: me; [it shall be] an excellent <07218> oil <08081>_, my head <07218>_: for yet my prayer <08605> also [shall be] in their calamities <07451>_. {me; it shall be a...: or, me kindly, and reprove me; let not their precious oil break, etc} |
| NASB © | |
| HEBREW | |
| LXXM | |
| NET © [draft] ITL | |
| NET © | May the godly strike me in love and correct me! May my head not refuse 1 choice oil! 2 Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds. 3 |
| NET © Notes |
1 tn The form יָנִי (yaniy) appears to be derived from the verbal root נוּא (nu’). Another option is to emend the form to יְנָא (yÿna’), a Piel from נָאָה (na’ah), and translate “may choice oil not adorn my head” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 271). In this case, choice oil, like delicacies in v. 4, symbolize the pleasures of sin. 2 sn May my head not refuse choice oil. The psalmist compares the constructive criticism of the godly (see the previous line) to having refreshing olive oil poured over one’s head. 3 tc Heb “for still, and my prayer [is] against their evil deeds.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult; the sequence -כִּי־עוֹד וּ (kiy-’od u-, “for still and”) occurs only here. The translation assumes an emendation to כִּי עֵד תְפלָּתִי (“indeed a witness [is] my prayer”). The psalmist’s lament about the evil actions of sinful men (see v. 4) testifies against the wicked in the divine court. |
