Psalms 55:4-8

55:4 My heart beats violently ¹  within me;

the horrors of death overcome me. ² 

55:5 Fear and panic overpower me; ³ 

terror overwhelms ⁴  me.

55:6 I say, ⁵  “I wish I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and settle in a safe place!

55:7 Look, I will escape to a distant place;

I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)

55:8 I will hurry off to a place that is safe

from the strong wind ⁶  and the gale.”

[55:4]  ¹ tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”

[55:4]  ² tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”

[55:5]  ³ tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”

[55:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.

[55:6]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.

[55:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the] wind [that] sweeps away.” The verb סָעָה (sa’ah, “sweep away”) occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 120).