Mazmur 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ¹  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ² 

Mazmur 139:11

139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, ³ 

and the light will turn to night all around me,” ⁴ 

[130:3]  ¹ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ² tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[139:11]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.

[139:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”