Translations
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Look upon me! Answer me, YHWH my Elohim! Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death—
Look on me—answer me, Yahweh my God! Let Your light break into my eyes before I sink into the sleep of death—
Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
Footnotes
Three imperatives in rapid succession—habbita (הַבִּיטָה, "look/gaze upon"), 'aneni (עֲנֵנִי, "answer me"), ha'irah (הָאִירָה, "light up")—move from divine attention, to divine speech, to divine life-giving action, escalating in urgency. "Light up my eyes" (ha'irah einay) is a vivid physiological idiom: in ancient Near Eastern thought, bright, gleaming eyes signal vitality, while dimming eyes signal approaching death (cf. 1 Sam. 14:27, 29, where Jonathan's eyes "light up" after eating honey; and 1 Sam. 14:31, where the people's eyes grow "dim" from exhaustion). The petition is thus simultaneously physical and spiritual—restore life before it fails entirely. "The sleep of death" (ishan hamavet) is poetic and not yet a developed theology of resurrection here, but carries the weight of irreversible silence before God. Both versions intentionally carry the syntax unresolved into v.4 with a dash, preserving the Hebrew enjambment—the "lest" (pen) clause continues. F.O.G. addresses "YHWH my Elohim" to honor the compound covenantal-creational address; F.O.G.M. uses "my God" with the personal possessive to foreground intimate relationship.

