Daily Verse Psalm 4:8 | Verse of the day image by Youversion | bible.com

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[Lori Jane]

4:8 In peace The Psalm ends on a note of peaceful tranquility. Just as He has in the past (v. 1), Yahweh has responded, enabling the psalmist to sleep in safety.

John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ps 4:8.

Notes for 4:8

20 tn Heb “in peace at the same time I will lie down and sleep.”
21 tn Heb “for you, LORD, solitarily, securely make me dwell.” The translation understands לְבָדָד (lévadad) as modifying the verb; the Lord keeps enemies away from the psalmist so that he is safe and secure. Another option is to take לְבָדָד with what precedes and translate, “you alone, LORD, make me secure.”
22 sn Psalm 5. Appealing to God’s justice and commitment to the godly, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from evildoers.
23 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word נְחִילוֹת (nékhilot), which occurs only here, is uncertain. Many relate the form to חָלִיל (khalil, “flute”).


Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ps 4:8.

4:7–8 The psalmist’s own experience is in contrast to the pessimist’s view in v. 6. He has both an abundance of joy and a sense of security because of his relationship with the Lord. The same description of lying down and sleeping occurs in 3:5.

Kevin R. Warstler, “Psalms,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 820.

8. both lay me down, &c.—or, will lie down at once, and sleep in sure confidence and quiet repose (Ps 3:5).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 348.

4:7–8. The joy and contentment David experienced in trusting in the LORD was greater than the mirth of the harvest festivities. Even in distress and away from the visible evidence of God’s goodness, he enjoyed peace and safety in his God (on sleep; cf. 3:5). True joy and peace depend not on circumstances but on God’s protection and provisions (cf. Gal. 5:22; Rom. 14:17).

Allen P. Ross, “Psalms,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 794.

Rest in peace (4:9). Having opened his prayer with a sense of burden and oppression, the psalmist now can close it with a sense of confidence and peace. There is only one God, his Lord, in contrast to whom the “sons of man” are of no significance. But where the accusations of the sons of man had created that inner tension and anxiety which makes sleep impossible, the Lord granted that security within which sleep could be a time of rest and tranquillity. At the end, the psalmist has seen that he is better off than his adversaries. He had advised them to lie still on their beds, in an attempt to curtail their evil (v 5), but he could lie on his bed and sleep the sleep of peace which came from God.

Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 2nd ed., vol. 19, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 2004), 82.