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 

Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll— are they not in your record?

You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.

You have seen my wanderings; put the drops from my eyes into your bottle; are they not in your record?

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?

You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?

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

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).