Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, November 28th, 2024
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Psalms 13:3

Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Thompson Chain Reference - Sleep;   Sleep-Wakefulness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Blindness, Spiritual;   Eye, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Sleep;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Saul;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Eye;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Death;   English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Psalms;   Sin;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;   Vine;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Betimes;   Daniel, Book of;   Enlighten;   Light;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Heart;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
English Revised Version
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Update Bible Version
Consider [and] answer me, O Yahweh my God: Lighten my eyes, or else I will sleep the [sleep of] death;
New Century Version
Lord , look at me. Answer me, my God; tell me, or I will die.
New English Translation
Look at me! Answer me, O Lord my God! Revive me, or else I will die!
Webster's Bible Translation
Consider [and] hear me, O LORD my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep [the sleep] of death;
World English Bible
Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
Amplified Bible
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Give light (life) to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
English Standard Version
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Hou long schal myn enemy be reisid on me?
Berean Standard Bible
See me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
Contemporary English Version
Please listen, Lord God, and answer my prayers. Make my eyes sparkle again, or else I will fall into the sleep of death.
American Standard Version
Consider and answer me, O Jehovah my God: Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Bible in Basic English
Let my voice come before you, and give me an answer, O Lord my God; let your light be shining on me, so that the sleep of death may not overtake me;
Complete Jewish Bible
How long must I keep asking myself what to do, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long must my enemy dominate me?
Darby Translation
Consider, answer me, O Jehovah my God! lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the [sleep of] death;
Easy-to-Read Version
Lord my God, look at me and give me an answer. Make me feel strong again, or I will die.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart by day?
King James Version (1611)
Consider and heare me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleepe of death.
New Life Bible
Look on me and answer, O Lord, my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.
New Revised Standard
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, and heare mee, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, that I sleepe not in death:
George Lamsa Translation
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death,
Good News Translation
Look at me, O Lord my God, and answer me. Restore my strength; don't let me die.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Have regard! answer me O Yahweh my God, - Light up mine eyes, lest I sleep on into death:
Douay-Rheims Bible
(12-3) How long shall my enemy be exalted over Me?
Revised Standard Version
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Loke downe and heare me O God my Lorde: lighten myne eyes, lest that I sleepe in death.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Look on me, hearken to me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death;
Christian Standard Bible®
Consider me and answer, Lord my God.Restore brightness to my eyes;otherwise, I will sleep in death.
Hebrew Names Version
Behold, and answer me, LORD, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
Lexham English Bible
Consider and answer me, O Yahweh my God. Give light to my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death,
Literal Translation
Look! Answer me, O Jehovah, my God! Make my eyes gleam, lest I sleep the death;
Young's Literal Translation
Look attentively; Answer me, O Jehovah, my God, Enlighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Considre, ad heare me, o LORDE my God: lighten myne eyes, that I slepe not in death.
THE MESSAGE
Take a good look at me, God , my God; I want to look life in the eye, So no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face.
New American Standard Bible
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
New King James Version
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
Legacy Standard Bible
Look and answer me, O Yahweh my God;Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

Contextual Overview

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord ? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 6 I will sing unto the Lord , because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Consider: Psalms 9:13, Psalms 25:19, Psalms 31:7, Psalms 119:153, Lamentations 5:1

lighten: Psalms 18:28, 1 Samuel 14:27, 1 Samuel 14:29, Ezra 9:8, Luke 2:32, Revelation 21:23

lest: Jeremiah 51:39, Jeremiah 51:57, Ephesians 5:14

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 6:40 - my God Psalms 7:1 - O Psalms 17:6 - incline Psalms 19:8 - enlightening Psalms 21:4 - asked Psalms 34:5 - and were Psalms 38:16 - For I said Psalms 54:2 - General Psalms 76:5 - they Psalms 94:17 - dwelt Proverbs 29:13 - Lord

Cross-References

Genesis 12:6
And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
Genesis 13:8
And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
Genesis 13:9
Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Consider [and] hear me, O Lord my God,.... The psalmist amidst all his distresses rightly applies to God by prayer, claims his interest in him as his covenant God, which still continued notwithstanding all his darkness, desertions, and afflictions; and entreats him to "consider" his affliction and trouble, and deliver him out of it; to consider his enemies, how many and mighty they were; and his own weakness his frame, that he was but dust, and unable to stand against them: or to "look" u upon his affliction, and upon him under it, with an eye of pity and compassion; to have respect to him and to his prayers, and to turn unto him, and lift up the light of his countenance upon him: and so this petition is opposed to the complaint in Psalms 13:1; and he further requests that he would "hear" him; that is, so as to answer him, and that immediately, and thereby show that he had not forgotten him, but was mindful of him, of his love to him, and covenant with him;

lighten mine eyes: meaning either the eyes of his body, which might be dim and dull through a failure of the animal spirits, by reason of inward grief, outward afflictions, or for want of bodily food; which when obtained refreshes nature, cheers the animal spirits, enlightens or gives a briskness to the eyes; see 1 Samuel 14:27; or else the eyes of his understanding, Ephesians 1:18; that he might behold wondrous things in the law of God, know the things which were freely given to him of God, see more clearly his interest in him, and in the covenant of his grace, and have his soul refreshed and comforted with the light of God's countenance; and he be better able to discern his enemies, and guard against them; and be directed to take the best method to be delivered and secured from them. The people of God are sometimes in the dark, and see no light; especially when benighted, and in sleepy frames; and it is God's work to enlighten and quicken them;

lest I sleep [the sleep] of death; a natural death w, which is comparable to sleep, and often expressed by it; and which sense agrees with lightening the eyes of his body, as before explained; or rather the sense is, lift up the light of thy countenance, revive thy work in the midst of the years; let me see thy goodness in the land of the living, that I may not faint and sink and die away. Or it may be an eternal death is designed; for though true believers shall never die this death, yet they may be in such circumstances, as through unbelief to fear they shall. The Targum paraphrases the word thus;

"enlighten mine eyes in thy law, lest I sin, and sleep with those who are guilty of death.''

u הביטה "intuere", Junius Tremellius, Piscator "aspice", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. w χαλκεον υπνον, Homer. Iliad. 11. v. 241. "ferreus somnus", Virgil. Aeneid. 10. v. 745, & 12. v. 309.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Consider and hear me - literally, “Look, hear me.” God had seemed to avert his face as if he would not even look upon him Psalms 13:1; and the psalmist now prays that he “would” look upon him - that he would regard his wants - that he would attend to his cry. So we pray to one who turns away from us as if he were not disposed to hear, and as if he cared nothing about us.

Lighten mine eyes - The allusion here is, probably, to his exhaustion, arising from trouble and despair, as if he were about to die. The sight grows dim as death approaches; and he seemed to feel that death was near. He says that unless God should interpose, the darkness would deepen, and he must die. The prayer, therefore, that God would “enlighten his eyes,” was a prayer that he would interpose and save him from that death which he felt was rapidly approaching.

Lest I sleep the sleep of death - literally, “Lest I sleep the death;” that is, “in” death, or, as in the common version, the sleep of death. The idea is, that death, whose approach was indicated by the dimness of vision, was fast stealing over him as a sleep, and that unless his clearness of vision were restored, it would soon end in the total darkness - the deep and profound sleep - of death. Death is often compared to sleep. See the note at 1 Corinthians 11:30; the note at John 11:11, John 11:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Daniel 12:2. The resemblance between the two is so obvious as to have been remarked in all ages, and the comparison is found in the writings of all nations. It is only, however, in connection with Christianity that the idea has been fully carried out by the doctrine of the resurrection, for as we lie down at night with the hope of awaking to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new day, so the Christian lies down in death with the hope of awaking in the morning of the resurrection to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new and eternal day. Everywhere else death is, to the mind, a long and unbroken sleep. Compare Jeremiah 51:39, Jeremiah 51:57.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 13:3. Consider and hear me — Rather, answer me. I have prayed; I am seeking thy face I am lost without thee; I am in darkness; my life draws nigh to destruction; if I die unforgiven, I die eternally. O Lord my God, consider this; hear and answer, for thy name's sake.


 
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