Ayub 35:10

35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator,

who gives songs in the night, ¹ 

Mazmur 22:2

22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,

but you do not answer,

and during the night my prayers do not let up. ² 

Mazmur 42:8

42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ³ 

and by night he gives me a song, ⁴ 

a prayer ⁵  to the living God.

Mazmur 77:6

77:6 I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang;

I will think very carefully.”

I tried to make sense of what was happening. ⁶ 

Mazmur 119:55

119:55 I remember your name during the night, O Lord,

and I will keep ⁷  your law.

Mazmur 119:62

119:62 In the middle of the night I arise ⁸  to thank you

for your just regulations.

Yesaya 30:29

30:29 You will sing

as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.

You will be happy like one who plays a flute

as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel. ⁹ 

[35:10]  ¹ tn There have been several attempts to emend the line, none of which are particularly helpful or interesting. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 225) says, “It is a pity to rob Elihu of a poetic line when he creates one.”

[22:2]  ² tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”

[42:8]  ³ sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).

[42:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”

[42:8]  ⁵ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”).

[77:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will remember my song in the night, with my heart I will reflect. And my spirit searched.” As in v. 4, the words of v. 6a are understood as what the psalmist said earlier. Consequently the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 10). The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive at the beginning of the final line is taken as sequential to the perfect “I thought” in v. 6.

[119:55]  ⁷ tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve to obey the law.

[119:62]  ⁸ tn The psalmist uses an imperfect verbal form to emphasize that this is his continuing practice.

[30:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “[you will have] joy of heart, like the one going with a flute to enter the mountain of the Lord to the Rock of Israel.” The image here is not a foundational rock, but a rocky cliff where people could hide for protection (for example, the fortress of Masada).