Mazmur 30:11-12

30:11 Then you turned my lament into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy. ¹ 

30:12 So now ²  my heart ³  will sing to you and not be silent;

O Lord my God, I will always ⁴  give thanks to you.

[30:11]  ¹ sn Covered me with joy. “Joy” probably stands metonymically for festive attire here.

[30:12]  ² tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”

[30:12]  ³ tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.

[30:12]  ⁴ tn Or “forever.”