Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 4 is a Davidic evening-prayer complementing Psalm 3's morning-prayer. The Jewish liturgical tradition treats Psalms 3–4 as a dawn-dusk pair. The 'tremble but do not sin' saying at 4:5 is cited at Ephesians 4:26 verbatim in its LXX form — one of the NT's clearest LXX-Psalms quotations.
Notable Variants
4:5 'tremble / be angry but do not sin' (orgizesthe kai mē hamartanete) cited at Eph 4:26 verbatim; 4:7 'lift up the light of Your face' echoing the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:25–26); the 'peace' and 'safety' closing (v. 9 MT / v. 8 English) as a Davidic sleep-assurance.
Structural Notes
LXX Psalm 4 has 9 verses matching MT. English verse-numbering offset by 1 throughout (English 4:1 = Hebrew/LXX 4:2).
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
Superscription — 'for the director of music, with stringed instruments, a psalm of David' — tracks MT. Musical-performance instructions are characteristic of many psalms. The 'director of music' (eis to telos in LXX) is an unexplained technical term possibly meaning 'for the chief musician' or 'for completion/victory.'
When I call, answer me, O God of my righteousness. In my distress You gave me room; be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
'God of my righteousness' and 'in my distress you gave me room' tracks MT. The 'gave me room' imagery — broadening of a narrow place — is the Hebrew salvation-idiom that Psalm 18:19 and elsewhere develop.
You people of rank — how long will my honor be turned to shame? How long will you love emptiness and pursue falsehood? Selah.
'How long will you love emptiness and pursue falsehood?' tracks MT. 'Emptiness' (mataiotēta — the same noun as Eccl 1:2's vanitas) and 'falsehood' (pseudos) form a word-pair for idolatrous worship and deceitful life.
Know this: the LORD has set apart the faithful one for Himself; the LORD hears when I call to Him.
'The LORD has set apart the faithful one for himself' tracks MT. The 'faithful one' (hosion) is the Psalms-technical term for the pious-devoted person, who will be 'set apart' (ethaumastōsen — 'wondrously separated').
Tremble, but do not sin; search your hearts on your beds and be silent. Selah.
Masoretic (WLC)
רִגְזוּ וְאַל־תֶּחֱטָאוּ
Tremble, but do not sin
Septuagint (LXX)
ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε
Be angry, but do not sin
EPHESIANS 4:26 CITATION. Paul's Ephesians 4:26 cites this verse verbatim in its LXX form: orgizesthe kai mē hamartanete ('be angry and do not sin'). Paul adds: 'do not let the sun go down on your anger.'
The Hebrew ragaz is ambiguous — 'tremble, be agitated, be angry.' The LXX renders with orgizesthe ('be angry'), giving the NT its directly-quoted form.
Paul's use of this verse is pastoral-psychological: anger is not categorically sinful, but it is time-limited and sin-susceptible. The Pauline appropriation is a rare NT case of directly-quoted Psalm-wisdom-ethics.
'Search your hearts on your beds and be silent' — the following imperative — supplies a meditation-practice template.
Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD.
'Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD' tracks MT.
Many are saying, "Who will show us any good?" Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O LORD.
Masoretic (WLC)
נְסָה עָלֵינוּ אוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהוָה
Lift up the light of Your face upon us, O LORD
Septuagint (LXX)
ἐσημειώθη ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου κύριε
The light of your face has been marked upon us, O Lord
The 'light of your face' (phōs tou prosōpou sou) echoes the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:25–26: 'the LORD make his face shine upon you'). The LXX's esēmeiōthē ('has been signed/marked') differs from MT's nesah ('lift up'); the LXX reads as accomplished fact rather than request.
Revelation 22:4 ('they shall see his face') is the eschatological culmination of this face-of-God prayer tradition.
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and new wine overflow.
'Joy greater than grain-and-wine-harvest' tracks MT. The harvest-festival-joy is the concrete-material baseline; David's joy exceeds it. The spiritual-over-material joy theme is later developed in Habakkuk 3:17–18 ('though the fig tree does not blossom … yet I will rejoice in the LORD').
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
'In peace I will lie down and sleep' tracks MT. The evening-peace closing matches the morning-confidence of Psalm 3:6. The Davidic sleep-in-safety becomes the paradigm of faith-rest — compare Hebrews 4:9–11's 'Sabbath-rest for the people of God.'