Mazmur 119:28

119:28 I collapse ¹  from grief.

Sustain me by your word! ² 

Mazmur 119:130

119:130 Your instructions are a doorway through which light shines. ³ 

They give ⁴  insight to the untrained. ⁵ 

Mazmur 119:139

119:139 My zeal ⁶  consumes ⁷  me,

for my enemies forget your instructions. ⁸ 

[119:28]  ¹ tn Some translate “my soul weeps,” taking the verb דָלַף (dalaf) from a root meaning “to drip; to drop” (BDB 196 s.v. דֶּלַף). On the basis of cognate evidence from Arabic and Akkadian, HALOT 223 s.v. II דלף proposes a homonymic root here, meaning “be sleepless.” Following L. C. Allen (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 127, 135) the translation assumes that the verb is cognate with Ugaritic dlp, “to collapse; to crumple” in CTA 2 iv. 17, 26. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 44, 144.

[119:28]  ² tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural “your words.”

[119:130]  ³ tn Heb “the doorway of your words gives light.” God’s “words” refer here to the instructions in his law (see vv. 9, 57).

[119:130]  ⁴ tn Heb “it [i.e., the doorway] gives.”

[119:130]  ⁵ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Pss 19:7; 116:6.

[119:139]  ⁶ tn or “zeal.”

[119:139]  ⁷ tn Heb “destroys,” in a hyperbolic sense.

[119:139]  ⁸ tn Heb “your words.”