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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Psalms 77:4

All mine enemies set a watch against me: I was troubled, and spoke not.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Seekers;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Jeduthun;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Asaph;   Jeduthun;   Priests and Levites;   Psalms;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for May 23;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You have kept me from closing my eyes;I am troubled and cannot speak.
Hebrew Names Version
You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can't speak.
King James Version
Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
English Standard Version
You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
New Century Version
You keep my eyes from closing. I am too upset to say anything.
New English Translation
You held my eyelids open; I was troubled and could not speak.
Amplified Bible
You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
New American Standard Bible
You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
World English Bible
You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can't speak.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Thou keepest mine eyes waking: I was astonied and could not speake.
Legacy Standard Bible
You have held my eyelids open;I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Berean Standard Bible
You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak.
Contemporary English Version
Because of you, Lord God, I can't sleep. I am restless and can't even talk.
Complete Jewish Bible
When remembering God, I moan; when I ponder, my spirit fails. (Selah)
Darby Translation
Thou holdest open mine eyelids; I am full of disquiet and cannot speak.
Easy-to-Read Version
You would not let me sleep. I tried to say something, but I was too upset.
George Lamsa Translation
My eyes are dazed; I am dumb so that I cannot speak.
Good News Translation
He keeps me awake all night; I am so worried that I cannot speak.
Lexham English Bible
You hold open my eyelids. I am troubled and cannot speak.
Literal Translation
You seized the watches of my eyes; I am troubled and I cannot speak.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Sela. Thou heldest myne eyes wakynge, I was so feble, that I coude not speake,
American Standard Version
Thou holdest mine eyes watching: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Bible in Basic English
You keep my eyes from sleep; I am so troubled that no words come.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
When I think thereon, O God, I must moan; when I muse thereon, my spirit fainteth. Selah
King James Version (1611)
Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speake.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou dydst kepe the watche of mine eies: I was amased & coulde not speake.
English Revised Version
Thou holdest mine eyes watching: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Myn iyen bifore took wakyngis; Y was disturblid, and Y spak not.
Update Bible Version
You hold my eyes watching: I am so troubled that I can't speak.
Webster's Bible Translation
Thou holdest my eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
New King James Version
You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
New Living Translation
You don't let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray!
New Life Bible
You keep my eyes from closing. I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
New Revised Standard
You keep my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thou hast held, watching, mine eyes, I was driven to and fro, and could not speak;
Douay-Rheims Bible
(76-5) My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.
Revised Standard Version
Thou dost hold my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Young's Literal Translation
Thou hast taken hold of the watches of mine eyes, I have been moved, and I speak not.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Contextual Overview

1 I cried to the Lord with my voice, yea, my voice was addressed to God; and he gave heed to me. 2 In the day of mine affliction I earnestly sought the Lord; even with my hands by night before him, and I was not deceived; my soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remembered God, and rejoiced; I poured out my complaint, and my soul fainted. Pause. 4 All mine enemies set a watch against me: I was troubled, and spoke not. 5 I considered the days of old, and remembered ancient years. 6 And I meditated; I communed with my heart by night, and diligently searched my spirit, saying, 7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be well pleased no more? 8 Will he cut off his mercy for ever, even for ever and ever? 9 Will God forget to pity? or will he shut up his compassions in his wrath? Pause. 10 And I said, Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

holdest: Psalms 6:6, Esther 6:1, Job 7:13-15

I am: Job 2:13, Job 6:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 45:15 - talked Job 7:4 - When Psalms 63:6 - General Psalms 102:7 - watch Jeremiah 45:3 - I fainted Daniel 6:18 - and

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou holdest mine eyes waking,.... Or, "the watches", or rather "keepers of the eyes" m; the eyebrows, which protect the eyes; these were held, so that he could not shut them, and get any sleep; so R. Moses Haccohen interprets the words, as Jarchi observes; and so the Targum,

"thou holdest the brows of my eyes;''

a person in trouble, when he can get some sleep, it interrupts his sorrow, weakens it at least, if it does not put a stop to it; wherefore it is a great mercy to have sleep, and that refreshing, Psalms 127:1, but to have this denied, and to have wearisome nights, and be in continual tossing to and fro, is very distressing:

I am so troubled that I cannot speak; his spirits were so sunk with weariness, and want of sleep in the night, that he could not speak in the morning; or his heart was so full with sorrow, that he could not utter himself; or it was so great that he could not express it; or his thoughts were such that he dared not declare them; or he was so straitened and shut up in himself that he could not go on speaking unto God in prayer.

m שמרות עיני "vigilias", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version; "palpebras oculorum meorum", Musculus, Cocceius; "palpebras quasi custodias oculorum", Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou holdest mine eyes waking - literally, “Thou holdest the watchings of my eyes.” Gesenius (Lexicon) translates the Hebrew word rendered “waking,” “eyelids.” Probably that is the true idea. The eyelids are the watchers or guardians of the eyes. In danger, and in sleep, they close. Here the idea is, that God held them so that they did not close. He overcame the natural tendency of the eye to shut. In other words, the psalmist was kept awake; he could not sleep. This he traces to God. The idea is, that God so kept himself before his mind - that such ideas occurred to him in regard to God - that he could not sleep.

I am so troubled - With sad and dark views of God; so troubled in endeavoring to understand his character and doings; in explaining his acts; in painful ideas that suggest themselves in regard to his justice, his goodness, his mercy.

That I cannot speak - I am struck dumb. I know not what to say. I cannot find “anything” to say. He must have a heart singularly and happily free by nature from scepticism, or must have reflected little on the divine administration, who has not had thoughts pass through his mind like these. As the psalmist was a good man, a pious man, it is of importance to remark, in view of his experience, that such reflections occur not only to the minds of bad people - of the profane - of sceptics - of infidel philosophers, but they come unbidden into the minds of good people, and often in a form which they cannot calm down. He who has never had such thoughts, happy as he may and should deem himself that he has not had them, has never known some of the deepest stirrings and workings of the human soul on the subject of religion, and is little qualified to sympathize with a spirit torn, crushed, agitated, as was that of the psalmist on these questions, or as Augustine and thousands of others have been in after-times. But let not a man conclude, because he has these thoughts, that therefore he cannot be a friend of God - a converted man. The wicked man invites them, cherishes them, and rejoices that he can find what seem to him to be reasons for indulging in such thoughts against God; the good man is pained; struggles against them: endearours to banish them from his soul.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 77:4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking — Literally, thou keepest the watches of mine eyes - my grief is so great that I cannot sleep.

I am so troubled that I cannot speak. — This shows an increase of sorrow and anguish. At first he felt his misery, and called aloud. He receives more light, sees and feels his deep wretchedness, and then his words are swallowed by excessive distress. His woes are too big for utterance. "Small troubles are loquacious; the great are dumb." Curae leves loquuntur; ingentes stupent.


 
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