Mazmur 56:7-9

56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! ¹ 

In your anger ²  bring down the nations, ³  O God!

56:8 You keep track of my misery. ⁴ 

Put my tears in your leather container! ⁵ 

Are they not recorded in your scroll? ⁶ 

56:9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help; ⁷ 

I know that God is on my side. ⁸ 

[56:7]  ¹ tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”

[56:7]  ² tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:7]  ³ tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.

[56:8]  ⁴ 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.”

[56:8]  ⁵ 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.

[56:8]  ⁶ 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).

[56:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “then my enemies will turn back in the day I cry out.” The Hebrew particle אָז (’az, “then”) is probably used here to draw attention to the following statement.

[56:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “this I know, that God is for me.”