Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionHave respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
F.O.G.Secondary
The F.O.GLook to the covenant, for the dark places of the land are filled with haunts of violence.
F.O.G.M.
F.O.G MessageHave regard for Your covenant—the dark corners of this land are filled with dens of violence.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleConsider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
Footnotes
הַבֵּט לַבְּרִית (*habet laberit*, "look to/have regard for the covenant") is a plea rooted in covenant theology: the psalmist appeals not to Israel's merit but to God's own sworn commitment—the *berit* of Abraham (Gen. 15) and Sinai (Exod. 19–24). It is an appeal to divine self-consistency. מַחֲשַׁכֵּי-אֶרֶץ (*machshakei eretz*, "dark places of the land") evokes both physical hideouts of danger and the spiritual darkness of a land abandoned to lawless violence. Both translations preserve the covenant appeal as the theological anchor; FOG uses "haunts" for its connotation of ominous, lurking threat.
