Psalms 56:8
in Psalms 56You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle— are they not in Your book?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou numberest my wanderings: Put thou my tears into thy bottle; Are they not in thy book?
KJV
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
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This verse in Psalms 56
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThou 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.
This site's exposition
In Your anger, O God, cast down the nations
on Psalms 56:7-9
David asks whether they will escape in spite of such sin, and asks God to cast down the nations. Verse 8 turns to his own wanderings and tears, put in God's bottle and held in His book. The plea rests on one line, God is on my side.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Wanderings - How I have been hunted from place to place. Put - Regard and pity them. Are they not - But why do I pray to God to do that which he hath already done?
Of all the impressions thus made upon his spirit. When he was wandering he was often weeping, and therefore prays, " Put thou my tears into thy bottle, to be preserved and looked upon; nay, I know they are in thy book, the book of thy remembrance." God has a bottle and a book for his people's tears, both those for their sins and those for their afflictions.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thou tellest my wanderings. Every step which the fugitive had taken when pursued by his enemies, was not only observed but thought worthy of counting and recording. We perhaps are so confused after a long course of trouble, that we hardly know where we have or where we have not been; but the omniscient and considerate Father of our spirits remembers all in detail; for he has counted them over as men count their gold, for even the trial of our faith is precious in his sight. Put thou my tears into thy bottle.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God is mindful of his exile and remembers his tears. The custom of bottling the tears of mourners as a memorial, which has existed in some Eastern nations, may explain the figure.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נֹדִי֮ | nodi | wandering my | H5112 → | |
| סָפַ֪רְתָּ֫ה | safartah | you have taken account of | H5608 → | 159 times |
| אָ֥תָּה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| שִׂ֣ימָה | simah | put ! | H7760 → | 584 times |
| דִמְעָתִ֣י | dimati | tear[s] my | H1832 → | 23 times |
| בְנֹאדֶ֑ךָ | venodekha | in skin-bottle your | H4997 → | |
| הֲ֝לֹ֗א | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| בְּסִפְרָתֶֽךָ׃ | besifratekha | [is it] in scroll your | H5612 → | 186 times |
נֹדִי֮wandering my
nodiH5112 →
סָפַ֪רְתָּ֫הyou have taken account of
safartahH5608 →159 times
אָ֥תָּהyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
שִׂ֣ימָהput !
simahH7760 →584 times
דִמְעָתִ֣יtear[s] my
dimatiH1832 →23 times
בְנֹאדֶ֑ךָin skin-bottle your
venodekhaH4997 →
הֲ֝לֹ֗א¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
בְּסִפְרָתֶֽךָ׃[is it] in scroll your
besifratekhaH5612 →186 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 7:17For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
it leads to
- John 7:37–38
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Psalms 36:8–9
They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Psalms 23:1–2
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- John 4:11
“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?
- John 7:37–38
Through
2 Kings 20:5“Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I…
it leads to
- Psalms 66:19–20
But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.
- Isaiah 38:5
“Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to…
- Psalms 66:19–20
Through
Malachi 3:16At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD…
it leads to
- Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their…
- Revelation 20:12
About Psalms
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.