Mazmur 19:3-4

19:3 There is no actual speech or word,

nor is its ¹  voice literally heard.

19:4 Yet its voice ²  echoes ³  throughout the earth;

its ⁴  words carry ⁵  to the distant horizon. ⁶ 

In the sky ⁷  he has pitched a tent for the sun. ⁸ 

[19:3]  ¹ tn Heb “their.” The antecedent of the plural pronoun is “heavens” (v. 1).

[19:4]  ² tc The MT reads, “their measuring line” (קוּם, qum). The noun קַו (qav, “measuring line”) makes no sense in this context. The reading קוֹלָם (qolam, “their voice”) which is supported by the LXX, is preferable.

[19:4]  ³ tn Heb “goes out,” or “proceeds forth.”

[19:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “their” (see the note on the word “its” in v. 3).

[19:4]  ⁵ tn The verb is supplied in the translation. The Hebrew text has no verb; יָצָא (yatsa’, “goes out”) is understood by ellipsis.

[19:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the end of the world.”

[19:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “in them” (i.e., the heavens).

[19:4]  ⁸ sn He has pitched a tent for the sun. The personified sun emerges from this “tent” in order to make its daytime journey across the sky. So the “tent” must refer metaphorically to the place where the sun goes to rest during the night.