Psalm 149,5: “they shout with joy on their couches” 107 (vs. 6b) (23), while the transition from v. 6b to the infinitives with l in vv. 7-9 has analogies in e.g. Exod 5,21; Jer 15,3. So, apparently, v. 6 and vv. 7-9 belong together. The ‘couches’ have been taken as part of a merism: in private (‘on their couches’) as well as in public (‘in the assembly of the faithful’), YHWH’s servants should rejoice in their King (24). This interpretation, too, meets with objections. Since in a merism the terms expressing a totality use to be connected by conjunctions (‘and’, ‘also’) or joined as a word pair in poetic parallelism, the terms ‘assembly’ and ‘couches’, separated by three verses, can hardly function in the supposed manner. Then again, it is unclear why precisely the couches of the faithful are mentioned instead of, for example, their houses (cf. Deut 6,7). Most importantly, the proposed reading does not explain the connection between vs. 5 and vv. 6-9. III Verse 5 is clearly the opening of a new scene. In this verse, the ‘couches’ can be understood from a literary tradition in which resting time, particularly that of the night (hlyl) or the watches of the night (twrmva), is a time of intensified spiritual activity and receptivity. This is the time when YHWH’s servants may yearn for their God, seek him (Isa 26,9), remember his ‘name’ (Ps 119,55), meditate on his ways of acting (Ps 77,7), pour out their hearts before him (Lam 2,19) — a time of prayers and of praises (Ps 42,9; 119,62; Job 35,10). It is also the time when YHWH may give counsel and instruction (Ps 16,7), the time when a human being, ‘immensely distinguished’, can be ‘with God’ (Ps 139,11-12.14.18) (25). Statements about activities and experiences like these may mention not only a time (the night, watches of the night), but also a place — which usually is the bkvm, ‘place of lying down, couch’, sometimes indicated by a synonym: hfm, ‘place of reclining, bed’, cr[, ‘couch’ or ‘divan’, µy[wxy, ‘that which is spread, resting-place’. The suppliant thinks of God on his resting-place (µy[wxy) in the watches of the night (Ps 63,7). He may flood his bed (hfm) with tears every night, drench his resting-bench (cr[) with his weeping (Ps 6,7). Sometimes, in a dream, a vision of the night, when people slumber on their couches (bkvm), God may open their ears and give them serious warnings (Job 33,15-18). The young woman, on her couch (bkvm) at night, finds herself seeking the one whom she loves (Cant 3,1). In some comparable texts only the sleeping-place, bkvm, is mentioned, not the night. On their couches people wail (Hos 7,14), talk to themselves in agitation (Ps 4,5), devise evil things (Mic 2,1; Ps 36,5). Ps 149,5 has its closest analogy in Cant 3,1. Both in Canticles 3 and Psalm 149 an action does not agree, seemingly, with its location: the young woman, (23) See e.g. Isa 34,5; Jer 25,16; 46,10; 50,35-38; Ezek 29,8; Zeph 2,12. (24) Thus A.R. CERESKO, “Psalm 149: Poetry, Themes (Exodus and Conquest), and Social Function”, Bib 67 (1986) 186-187, following the 19th-century exegete F.J.V.D. MAURER (“Tam privata quam publica omnium sit laetitia”). In essence also W.S. PRINSLOO, “Psalm 149: ‘Praise Yahweh with Tambourine and Two-edged Sword’”, ZAW 109 (1997) 403. (25) See Th. BOOIJ, “Psalm cxxxix: Text, Syntax, Meaning”, VT 55 (2005) 1-19.