Mazmur 7:10

7:10 The Exalted God is my shield, ¹ 

the one who delivers the morally upright. ² 

Mazmur 17:2

17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! ³ 

Decide what is right! ⁴ 

Mazmur 18:31

18:31 Indeed, ⁵  who is God besides the Lord?

Who is a protector ⁶  besides our God? ⁷ 

Mazmur 18:46

18:46 The Lord is alive! ⁸ 

My protector ⁹  is praiseworthy! ¹⁰ 

The God who delivers me ¹¹  is exalted as king! ¹² 

Mazmur 28:8

28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; ¹³ 

he protects and delivers his chosen king. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 33:20

33:20 We ¹⁵  wait for the Lord;

he is our deliverer ¹⁶  and shield. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 35:24

35:24 Vindicate me by your justice, O Lord my God!

Do not let them gloat ¹⁸  over me!

Mazmur 48:3

48:3 God is in its fortresses;

he reveals himself as its defender. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 84:9

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield! ²⁰ 

Show concern for your chosen king! ²¹ 

Mazmur 91:9

91:9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,

my shelter, the sovereign One. ²² 

Mazmur 109:31

109:31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,

to deliver him from those who threaten ²³  his life.

Mazmur 119:117

119:117 Support me, so that I will be delivered.

Then I will focus ²⁴  on your statutes continually.

[7:10]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “my shield is upon God” (cf. NASB). As in v. 8, עַל (’al) should be understood as a divine title, here compounded with “God” (cf. NIV, “God Most High”). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:45-46. The shield metaphor pictures God as a protector against deadly attacks.

[7:10]  ² tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[17:2]  ³ tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.

[17:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)

[18:31]  ⁵ tn Or “for.”

[18:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of divine protection. See v. 2, where the Hebrew term צוּר (tsur) is translated “rocky summit.”

[18:31]  ⁷ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the Lord is the only true God and reliable source of protection. See also Deut 32:39, where the Lord affirms that he is the only true God. Note as well the emphasis on his role as protector (Heb “rocky cliff,” צוּר, tsur) in Deut 32:4, 15, 17-18, 30.

[18:46]  ⁸ tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) is used exclusively as an oath formula, “as surely as the Lord lives,” but this is not the case here, for no oath follows. Here the statement is an affirmation of the Lord’s active presence and intervention. In contrast to pagan deities, he demonstrates he is the living God by rescuing and empowering the psalmist.

[18:46]  ⁹ tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection. See similar phrases in vv. 2, 31.

[18:46]  ¹⁰ tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”

[18:46]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the God of my deliverance.” 2 Sam 22:48 reads, “the God of the rocky cliff of my deliverance.”

[18:46]  ¹² tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Elsewhere in the psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 46:10; 57:5, 11).

[28:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord [is] strength to them” (or perhaps, “to him”). The form לָמוֹ (lamo, “to them/him”) is probably a corruption of an original לְעַמוֹ (lÿ’amo, “to his people”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 236), perhaps due to quiescence of the letter ayin (ע; see P. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 55). Note the reference to the Lord’s “people” in the next verse.

[28:8]  ¹⁴ 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.

[33:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “our lives.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[33:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[33:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “protector.”

[35:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “rejoice.”

[48:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he is known for an elevated place.”

[84:9]  ²⁰ tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “your anointed one” here and with “our king” in Ps 89:18.

[84:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “look [on] the face of your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (mÿshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17).

[91:9]  ²² tn Heb “for you, the Lord, my shelter, the Most High, you have made your dwelling place.”

[109:31]  ²³ tn Heb “judge.”

[119:117]  ²⁴ tn Or “and that I might focus.” The two cohortatives with vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose/result after the imperative at the beginning of the verse.