Translation Issue: Psalm 5:3

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. ESV

Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
    Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. NLT

In the morning, Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will present my prayer to You and be on the watch. NASB

Lord, in the morning you will hear me;
in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer. NET

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you
    and wait expectantly. NIV

O Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice.
In the morning I will set forth my case to you and I will watch. LEB

The words translated

“a sacrifice” in ESV

“bring my request” in NLT

“present my prayer” in NASB

“present my case” in NET

“lay my request” in NIV

“set forth my case” in LEB

These words are not found in the original.

אֶעֱרָךְ [arak] this word simply means “to arrange or set in order”

The literal translation would be: [John Goldingay’s translation]

Yhwh, in the morning you listen to my voice; in the morning I set it out to you and watch.¹

Authorized KJV:

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord;
in the morning will I direct my prayer² unto thee, and will look up.

Even in Authorized KJV you see that “my prayer” in given in italics. Denoting that it is not in the original. If you remove “my prayer” from authorized KJV what is left is the original.

in the morning will I direct unto thee, and will look up.

Here’s what Rev Derek Kidner writes in his Tyndale commentary³:

The words a sacrifice [emphasis mine] are a translators’ assumption, though probably a correct one. The Hebrew has the single word prepare, which can be used for setting out in order anything from a feast (23:5) to a case at law (50:21), and therefore perhaps for one’s plea to God (av), or one’s self preparation (‘I hold myself in readiness for you’, jb) ; but it is often a priestly term for laying the altar fire and arranging the pieces of the burnt offering (Lv. i:6f ). The emphasis on the morning rather suggests this by its possible allusion to the daily sacrifice at God’s threshold, ‘where I will meet with you, to speak there to you’ (Ex. 29:42). David, it seems, puts his praying into such a context (as in 141 :2) to express the assurance of atonement and the total commitment with which he comes before God. But he also comes expectantly. The word watch is used of God’s prophets posted to report the first sign Of His answers : cf, Isaiah 2 1 :6, 8 ; Micah 7:7; Habakkuk 2:1 . As at the tent of meeting, God would ‘speak there’, not only listen.

Now when we understand the logic behind choosing to translate the אֶעֱרָךְ [arak] as Sacrifice as in ESV what Eugene Peterson writes in the Message version makes perfect sense.

Every morning
    I lay out the pieces of my life
    on your altar
    and watch for fire to descend.

Notes:

1. John Goldingay’s translation in Baker commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms Vol 1
2. emphasis original
3. Derek Kidner Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: An introduction and commentary on the Books I and II of the Psalms Vol 1 Psalms 1-72 Page 58