Psalms 77:4

4 Thou didst hold my eyelids open; I am broken and did not speak.

Psalms 77:4 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 77:4

Thou holdest mine eyes waking
Or, "the watches", or rather "keepers of the eyes" F13; 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (ynye twrmv) "vigilias", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version; "palpebras oculorum meorum", Musculus, Cocceius; "palpebras quasi custodias oculorum", Michaelis.

Psalms 77:4 In-Context

2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore bled in the night and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remembered God and cried out; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
4 Thou didst hold my eyelids open; I am broken and did not speak.
5 I have considered the days from the beginning, the years of the ages.
6 I call to remembrance my songs of the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010