Psalms 32:4

For day and night you tormented me; ¹  you tried to destroy me ²  in the intense heat ³  of summer. ⁴  (Selah)

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude

The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up.

For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. (Selah.)

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah

For day and night you tormented me; ¹  you tried to destroy me ²  in the intense heat ³  of summer. ⁴  (Selah)

¹ tn Heb “your hand was heavy upon me.”

² tc Heb “my [?] was turned.” The meaning of the Hebrew term לְשַׁד (lÿshad) is uncertain. A noun לָשָׁד (lashad, “cake”) is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לְשֻׁדִּי (lÿshuddiy, “to my destruction”) and understand “your hand” as the subject of the verb “was turned.” In this case the text reads, “[your hand] was turned to my destruction.” In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God’s “hand” was “turned” (הָפַךְ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense.

sn You tried to destroy me. The psalmist’s statement reflects his perspective. As far as he was concerned, it seemed as if the Lord was trying to kill him.

³ tn The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, “in the times of drought.”

⁴ sn Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.