Mazmur 18:1-2
KonteksFor the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang 2 to the Lord the words of this song when 3 the Lord rescued him from the power 4 of all his enemies, including Saul. 5
“I love 7 you, Lord, my source of strength! 8
18:2 The Lord is my high ridge, 9 my stronghold, 10 my deliverer.
My God is my rocky summit where 11 I take shelter, 12
my shield, the horn that saves me, 13 and my refuge. 14
Mazmur 18:35
Konteks18:35 You give me your protective shield; 15
your right hand supports me; 16
your willingness to help 17 enables me to prevail. 18
Mazmur 27:1
KonteksBy David.
27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! 20
I fear no one! 21
The Lord protects my life!
I am afraid of no one! 22
Mazmur 28:7-8
Konteks28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; 23
I trust in him with all my heart. 24
I am rescued 25 and my heart is full of joy; 26
I will sing to him in gratitude. 27
28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; 28
he protects and delivers his chosen king. 29
Mazmur 59:17
Konteks59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! 30
For God is my refuge, 31 the God who loves me. 32
Mazmur 62:2
Konteks62:2 He alone is my protector 33 and deliverer.
He is my refuge; 34 I will not be upended. 35
Mazmur 62:7
Konteks62:7 God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter. 36
Mazmur 89:26
Konteks89:26 He will call out to me,
‘You are my father, 37 my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ 38
Mazmur 95:1
Konteks95:1 Come! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord!
Let’s shout out praises to our protector who delivers us! 40
[18:1] 1 sn Psalm 18. In this long song of thanks, the psalmist (a Davidic king, traditionally understood as David himself) affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. The psalmist’s experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the psalm appears in 2 Sam 22:1-51.
[18:1] 3 tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”
[18:1] 5 tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”
[18:1] 6 tn A number of translations (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) assign the words “he said” to the superscription, in which case the entire psalm is in first person. Other translations (e.g., NAB) include the introductory “he said” at the beginning of v. 1.
[18:1] 7 tn The verb רָחַם (rakham) elsewhere appears in the Piel (or Pual) verbal stem with the basic meaning, “have compassion.” The verb occurs only here in the basic (Qal) stem. The basic stem of the verbal root also occurs in Aramaic with the meaning “love” (see DNWSI 2:1068-69; Jastrow 1467 s.v. רָחַם; G. Schmuttermayr, “rhm: eine lexikalische Studie,” Bib 51 [1970]: 515-21). Since this introductory statement does not appear in the parallel version in 2 Sam 22:1-51, it is possible that it is a later addition to the psalm, made when the poem was revised for use in worship.
[18:1] 8 tn Heb “my strength.” “Strength” is metonymic here, referring to the Lord as the one who bestows strength to the psalmist; thus the translation “my source of strength.”
[18:2] 9 sn My high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
[18:2] 10 sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.
[18:2] 12 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
[18:2] 13 tn Heb “the horn of my salvation”; or “my saving horn.”
[18:2] sn Though some see “horn” as referring to a horn-shaped peak of a hill, or to the “horns” of an altar where one could find refuge, it is more likely that the horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (cf. Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). In the ancient Near East powerful warrior-kings would sometimes compare themselves to a goring bull that uses its horns to kill its enemies. For examples, see P. Miller, “El the Warrior,” HTR 60 (1967): 422-25, and R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 135-36. Ps 18:2 uses the metaphor of the horn in a slightly different manner. Here the Lord himself is compared to a horn. He is to the psalmist what the horn is to the ox, a source of defense and victory.
[18:2] 14 tn Or “my elevated place.” The parallel version of this psalm in 2 Sam 22:3 adds at this point, “my refuge, my savior, [you who] save me from violence.”
[18:35] 15 tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”
[18:35] sn You give me your protective shield. Ancient Near Eastern literature often refers to a god giving a king special weapons. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 260-61.
[18:35] 16 tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).
[18:35] 17 tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”
[18:35] 18 tn Heb “makes me great.”
[27:1] 19 sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.
[27:1] 20 tn Heb “the
[27:1] 21 tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
[27:1] 22 tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
[28:7] 23 tn Heb “The
[28:7] 24 tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”
[28:7] 25 tn Or “I am helped.”
[28:7] 26 tn Heb “and my heart exults.”
[28:7] 27 tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.
[28:8] 28 tn Heb “the
[28:8] 29 tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.
[59:17] 30 tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”
[59:17] 31 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
[59:17] 32 tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”
[62:2] 33 tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”
[62:2] 34 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
[62:2] 35 tn The Hebrew text adds רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) at the end of the line. It is unusual for this adverb to follow a negated verb. Some see this as qualifying the assertion to some degree, but this would water down the affirmation too much (see v. 6b, where the adverb is omitted). If the adverb has a qualifying function, it would suggest that the psalmist might be upended, though not severely. This is inconsistent with the confident mood of the psalm. The adverb probably has an emphatic force here, “I will not be greatly upended” meaning “I will not be annihilated.”
[62:7] 36 tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”
[89:26] 37 sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.
[89:26] 38 tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”
[95:1] 39 sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.
