the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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New Living Translation
Psalms 56:8
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Concordances:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
You have taken account of my wanderings;Put my tears in Your bottle.Are they not in Your book?
You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?
Thou hast numbred my flittinges, thou hast put my teares in thy bottell: [are] not these thinges [noted] in thy booke?
*Thou* countest my wanderings; put my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?
You have counted my wandering; O put my tear in Your bottle; are they not in Your Book?
You know I am very upset. You know how much I have cried. Surely you have kept an account of all my tears.
You number my wanderings. You put my tears into your bottle. Aren't they in your book?
Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my teares into thy bottle: are they not in thy booke?
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
Thou tellest my flittinges, thou puttest my teares in thy botell, and nombrest them.
You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.
You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not recorded in Your book?
Thou numberest my wanderings: Put thou my tears into thy bottle; Are they not in thy book?
You have seen my wanderings; put the drops from my eyes into your bottle; are they not in your record?
You number my wanderings: Put my tears into your bottle; Are they not in your book?
Thou numberest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?
You keep track of my misery. Put my tears in your leather container! Are they not recorded in your scroll?
You have kept record of my days of wandering. You have stored my tears in your bottle and counted each of them.
Because of their crime, they cannot escape; in anger, God, strike down the peoples.
Thou hast counted my wandrings: put my teares into thy bottel: are they not in thy register?
O God, I have declared my faith unto thee; record thou my tears before thee in thy book.
You number my wanderings. You put my tears into your bottle. Aren't they in your book?
Because of iniquity cast them out; in anger bring down the peoples, O God.
You have seen how many places I have gone. Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?
O God, I have declared my life to thee; thou has set my tears before thee, even according to thy promise.
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?
You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle-Are they not in Your book?
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?
My wandering, hast, thou, recorded, - Put thou my tears in thy bottle, Are they not in thy record?
(55-9) I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set me tears in thy sight, As also in thy promise.
You have kept count of my wonderings. Put my tears in your bottle; are they not in your book?
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
You have taken account of my miseries; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?
You have recorded my troubles. You have kept a list of my tears. Aren't they in your records?
You know how troubled I am; you have kept a record of my tears. Aren't they listed in your book?
You Yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your records?
As thei abiden my lijf, for nouyt schalt thou make hem saaf; in ire thou schalt breke togidre puplis.
My wandering Thou hast counted, Thou -- place Thou my tear in Thy bottle, Are they not in Thy book?
Thou hast kept count of my tossings; put thou my tears in thy bottle! Are they not in thy book?
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
tellest: Psalms 105:13, Psalms 105:14, Psalms 121:8, Numbers 33:2-56, 1 Samuel 19:18, 1 Samuel 22:1-5, 1 Samuel 27:1, Isaiah 63:9, 2 Corinthians 11:26, Hebrews 11:8, Hebrews 11:13, Hebrews 11:38
put: Psalms 39:12, Psalms 126:5, Psalms 126:6, 2 Kings 20:5, Job 16:20, Revelation 7:17
are they: Psalms 139:16, Malachi 3:16, Matthew 10:30, Revelation 20:12
Reciprocal: Exodus 32:32 - blot me 2 Samuel 15:20 - go up and down Psalms 6:8 - for Psalms 30:5 - weeping Psalms 139:2 - knowest Isaiah 38:5 - I have seen Isaiah 65:6 - it is Daniel 12:1 - written
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Thou tellest my wanderings,.... Not his sins; though these are aberrations or wanderings from the ways of God's commandments; yet these are not told by the Lord: he takes no account of them; the number of them is not kept by him; they are blotted out, cast behind his back, and into the depths of the sea; though sometimes his people think they are told and numbered by him, Job 14:16; but David's moves and flights from place to place are meant, through Saul's pursuit of him, as a partridge on the mountains. Some writers reckon twelve of these moves. The Targum renders it,
"thou numberest the days of my wandering;''
that is, the days of his pilgrimage and sojourning in this world: the number of our days, and months and years, in which we wander about in this uncertain state of things, is with the Lord, Job 14:5;
put thou my tears into thy bottle; the allusion is to "lachrymatories", or tear bottles, in which surviving relatives dropped their tears for their deceased friends, and buried them with their ashes, or in their urns; some of which tear bottles are still to be seen in the cabinets of the curious. A description of which is given by Gejerus c, from Olaus Wormius; and who also from Cotovicus relates, that the grave of M. Tullius Cicero was dug up in the island of Zacynthus, A. D. 1544, in which were found two glass urns; the larger had ashes in it, the lesser water: the one was supposed to contain his ashes, the other the tears of his friends: and as this was a custom with the Romans, something like this might obtain among the Jews; and it is a saying with them d,
"whoever sheds tears for a good man (deceased) the holy blessed God numbers them, and puts them into his treasures, according to Psalms 56:8;''
which shows, that they thought that reference is here had to funeral tears. The meaning of the text is, that God would take notice of David's afflictions and troubles, which had caused so many tears, and remember them, and deliver him out of them: these being desired to be put into a bottle was, that they might be kept and reserved; not to make atonement for sin; for as a thousand rivers of oil cannot expiate one sin, could they be come at; so neither as many rivers of brinish tears, could they possibly be shed: nor to obtain heaven and happiness; for there is no comparison nor proportion between the sufferings of the saints and the glory that shall be revealed in them; though there is a connection of grace through the promise of God between them: but rather, that they might be brought forth another day and shown, to the aggravation of the condemnation of wicked men, who by their hard speeches, and ungodly actions, have caused them;
[are they] not in thy book? verily they are; that is, the tears and afflictions of his people. They are in his book of purposes; they are all appointed by him, their kind and nature, their measure and duration, their quality and quantity; what they shall be, and how long they shall last; and their end and use: and they are in his book of providence, and are all overruled and caused to work for their good; and they are in the book of his remembrance; they are taken notice of and numbered by him, and shall be finished; they shall not exceed their bounds. These tears will be turned into joy, and God will wipe them all away from the eyes of his people.
c De Ebr. Luctu, c. 12. s. 5. d T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 105. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Thou tellest my wanderings - Thou dost “number” or “recount” them; that is, in thy own mind. Thou dost keep an account of them; thou dost notice me as I am driven from one place to another to find safety. “My wanderings,” to Gath, 1 Samuel 21:10; to the cave of Adullam, 1 Samuel 22:1; to Mizpeh, in Moab, 1 Samuel 22:3; to the forest of Hareth, 1 Samuel 22:5; to Keilah, 1 Samuel 23:5; to the wilderness of Ziph, 1 Samuel 23:14; to the wilderness of Maon, 1 Samuel 23:25; to En-gedi, 1 Samuel 24:1-2.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle - The tears which I shed in my wanderings. Let them not fall to the ground and be forgotten. Let them be remembered by thee as if they were gathered up and placed in a bottle - “a lachrymatory” - that they may be brought to remembrance hereafter. The word here rendered “bottle” means properly a bottle made of skin, such as was used in the East; but it may be employed to denote a bottle of any kind. It is possible, and, indeed, it seems probable, that there is an allusion here to the custom of collecting tears shed in a time of calamity and sorrow, and preserving them in a small bottle or “lachrymatory,” as a memorial of the grief. The Romans had a custom, that in a time of mourning - on a funeral occasion - a friend went to one in sorrow, and wiped away the tears from the eyes with a piece of cloth, and squeezed the tears into a small bottle of glass or earth, which was carefully preserved as a memorial of friendship and sorrow.
Many of these lachrymatories have been found in the ancient Roman tombs. I myself saw a large quantity of them in the “Columbaria” at Rome, and in the Capitol, among the relics and curiosities of the place. The above engraving will illustrate the form of these lachrymatories. The annexed remarks of Dr. Thomson (“land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 147), will show that the same custom prevailed in the East, and will describe the forms of the “tear-bottles” that were used there. “These lachrymatories are still found in great numbers on opening ancient tombs. A sepulchre lately discovered in one of the gardens of our city had scores of them in it. They are made of thin glass, or more generally of simple pottery, often not even baked or glazed, with a slender body, a broad bottom, and a funnel-shaped top. They have nothing in them but “dust” at present. If the friends were expected to contribute their share of tears for these bottles, they would very much need cunning women to cause their eyelids to gush out with water. These forms of ostentatious sorrow have ever been offensive to sensible people. Thus Tacitus says, ‘At my funeral let no tokens of sorrow be seen, no pompous mockery of woe. Crown me with chaplets, strew flowers on my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memorial to tell where my remains are lodged. ‘“
Are they not in thy book? - In thy book of remembrance; are they not numbered and recorded so that they will not be forgotten? This expresses strong confidence that his tears “would” be remembered; that they would not be forgotten. All the tears that we shed “are” remembered by God. If “properly” shed - shed in sorrow, without murmuring or complaining, they will be remembered for our good; if “improperly shed” - if with the spirit of complaining, and with a want of submission to the divine will, they will be remembered against us. But it is not wrong to weep. David wept; the Saviour wept; nature prompts us to weep; and it cannot be wrong to weep if “our” eye “poureth out” its tears “unto God” Job 16:20; that is, if in our sorrow we look to God with submission and with earnest supplication.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 56:8. Thou tellest my wanderings — Thou seest how often I am obliged to shift the place of my retreat. I am hunted every where; but thou numberest all my hiding-places, and seest how often I am in danger of losing my life.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle — Here is an allusion to a very ancient custom, which we know long obtained among the Greeks and Romans, of putting the tears which were shed for the death of any person into small phials, called lacrymatories or urnae lacrymales and offering them on the tomb of the deceased. Some of these were of glass, some of pottery, and some of agate, sardonyx, c. A small one in my own collection is of hard baked clay.
Are they not in thy book? — Thou hast taken an exact account of all the tears I have shed in relation to this business and thou wilt call my enemies to account for every tear.
