Mazmur 17:5-8

17:5 I carefully obey your commands; ¹ 

I do not deviate from them. ² 

17:6 I call to you for you will answer me, O God.

Listen to me! ³ 

Hear what I say! ⁴ 

17:7 Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds, ⁵ 

you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies. ⁶ 

17:8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! ⁷ 

Hide me in the shadow of your wings! ⁸ 

Mazmur 17:13

17:13 Rise up, Lord!

Confront him! ⁹  Knock him down! ¹⁰ 

Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! ¹¹ 

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

[17:5]  ² tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

[17:6]  ³ tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”

[17:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “my word.”

[17:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “Set apart faithful acts.”

[17:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “[O] one who delivers those who seek shelter from the ones raising themselves up, by your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver.

[17:7]  sn Those who look to you for protection from their enemies. “Seeking 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).

[17:8]  ⁷ tc Heb “Protect me like the pupil, a daughter of an eye.” The noun בַּת (bat, “daughter”) should probably be emended to בָּבַת (bavat, “pupil”). See Zech 2:12 HT (2:8 ET) and HALOT 107 s.v. *בָּבָה.

[17:8]  ⁸ sn Your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.

[17:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”

[17:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “bring him to his knees.”

[17:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”