Psalm 139:7-12 New English Translation
7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee to escape your presence?[a]
8 If I were to ascend[b] to heaven, you would be there.
If I were to sprawl out[c] in Sheol, there you would be.[d]
9 If I were to fly away[e] on the wings of the dawn,[f]
and settle down on the other side[g] of the sea,
10 even there your hand would guide me,
your right hand would grab hold of me.
11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me,[h]
and the light will turn to night all around me,”[i]
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see,[j]
and the night is as bright as[k] day;
darkness and light are the same to you.[l]
Footnotes
- Psalm 139:7 tn Heb “Where can I go from your spirit, and where from your face can I flee?” God’s “spirit” may refer here (1) to his presence (note the parallel term, “your face,” and see Ps 104:29-30, where God’s “face” is his presence and his “spirit” is the life-giving breath he imparts) or (2) to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).
- Psalm 139:8 tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).
- Psalm 139:8 tn The verb יָצַע (yatzaʿ) is rare in the Bible (see Isa 58:5 also Hiphil, and Isa 1:14; Est 4:3 for Hophal examples). There are three main options for understanding this phrase. It may mean “to descend to Sheol,” as in the LXX. This takes the motion in the verb as very generic for this context and understands “Sheol” without a preposition as the default “to Sheol.” Many translations take it as spreading out [something] to act as a bed, couch, or area to lie down. It is uncertain that the idea of a bed has to be implied and this does not required to fit the other contexts. Or, as taken here, it may “to spread [oneself] out, to sprawl.” Each view has merits and it is difficult to decide because the are so few examples.
- Psalm 139:8 tn Heb “look, you.”
- Psalm 139:9 tn Heb “rise up.”
- Psalm 139:9 sn On the wings of the dawn. This personification of the “dawn” may find its roots in mythological traditions about the god Shachar, whose birth is described in an Ugaritic myth (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 126) and who is mentioned in Isa 14:12 as the father of Helel.
- Psalm 139:9 tn Heb “at the end.”
- Psalm 139:11 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeni), from the root שָׂכַך (sakhakh, “to cover,” an alternate form of סָכַך [sakhakh]), a reading assumed in the present translation.
- Psalm 139:11 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”
- Psalm 139:12 tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
- Psalm 139:12 tn Heb “shines like.”
- Psalm 139:12 tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”
New English Translation (NET)
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