Psalm 77:4

4 You keep my eyes from closing. I am too upset to say anything.

Psalm 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Psalm 77:4 In-Context

2 I look for the Lord on the day of trouble. All night long I reach out my hands, but I cannot be comforted.

3 When I remember God, I become upset; when I think, I become afraid.Selah

4 You keep my eyes from closing. I am too upset to say anything.

5 I keep thinking about the old days, the years of long ago.

6 At night I remember my songs. I think and I ask myself: