Psalms 56:8

You keep track of my misery. ¹  Put my tears in your leather container! ²  Are they not recorded in your scroll? ³ 

Nu 33:2-56; 1Sa 19:18; 1Sa 22:1-5; 1Sa 27:1; 2Ki 20:5; Job 16:20; Ps 39:12; Ps 105:13,14; Ps 121:8; Ps 126:5,6; Ps 139:16; Isa 63:9; Mal 3:16; Mt 10:30; 2Co 11:26; Heb 11:8,13,38; Re 7:17; Re 20:12

¹ 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.”

² 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.

³ 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).