Up to now wayyālînû in Ps 59:16b has frequently been understood as “they (= the dogs/the enemies) growl” based on the root lwn (“to grumble/complain”), a solution that involves an emendation of the MT (Doyle 2004, for example). Tropper (1994), however, argued that there is no need to emend the MT; it should be understood as “they stay the night” based on the root lyn in the sense that the dogs (i.e., the enemies in the metaphor) stay with the psalmist and his people throughout the night, constantly threatening them.”

While I agree with Tropper in analyzing the verb on the basis of the root lyn, I argue that the meaning of lyn should be understood as “to sleep” based on the verb’s usage as a synonym with škb in both Biblical Hebrew and Ugaritic: “they sleep (wayyālînû).” While the BH dictionaries do not offer the meaning “to sleep” for lyn, I suggest that this meaning should be included in Biblical Hebrew dictionaries as the primary meaning of this verb, as is the case in Ugaritic. The interpretation of wayyālînû in Ps 59:16b as “they sleep” clarifies the role of Ps 59:16b in the broader context of Psalm 59, a psalm that Briggs (1907), for example, described as “exceedingly difficult.”