Mazmur 27:2-3

27:2 When evil men attack me ¹ 

to devour my flesh, ² 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ³ 

they stumble and fall. ⁴ 

27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,

I do not fear. ⁵ 

Even when war is imminent, ⁶ 

I remain confident. ⁷ 

[27:2]  ¹ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ² sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ³ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[27:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”

[27:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”

[27:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”