Mazmur 18:32-39

18:32 The one true God ¹  gives ²  me strength; ³ 

he removes ⁴  the obstacles in my way. ⁵ 

18:33 He gives me the agility of a deer; ⁶ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ⁷ 

18:34 He trains my hands for battle; ⁸ 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ⁹ 

18:35 You give me your protective shield; ¹⁰ 

your right hand supports me; ¹¹ 

your willingness to help ¹²  enables me to prevail. ¹³ 

18:36 You widen my path; ¹⁴ 

my feet ¹⁵  do not slip.

18:37 I chase my enemies and catch ¹⁶  them;

I do not turn back until I wipe them out.

18:38 I beat them ¹⁷  to death; ¹⁸ 

they fall at my feet. ¹⁹ 

18:39 You give me strength ²⁰  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ²¹ 

Mazmur 80:15-17

80:15 the root ²²  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ²³ 

80:16 It is burned ²⁴  and cut down.

They die because you are displeased with them. ²⁵ 

80:17 May you give support to the one you have chosen, ²⁶ 

to the one whom you raised up for yourself! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 80:2

80:2 In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal ²⁸  your power!

Come and deliver us! ²⁹ 

1 Samuel 7:8-16

7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep ³⁰  crying out to the Lord our ³¹  God so that he may save us ³²  from the hand of the Philistines!” 7:9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb ³³  and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

7:10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. ³⁴  But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by ³⁵  Israel. 7:11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car.

7:12 Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. ³⁶  He named it Ebenezer, ³⁷  saying, “Up to here the Lord has helped us.” 7:13 So the Philistines were defeated; they did not invade Israel again. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

7:14 The cities that the Philistines had captured from Israel were returned to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territory from the control ³⁸  of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites. 7:15 So Samuel led ³⁹  Israel all the days of his life. 7:16 Year after year he used to travel the circuit of Bethel, ⁴⁰  Gilgal, and Mizpah; he used to judge Israel in all of these places.

Yesaya 42:1

The Lord Commissions His Special Servant

42:1 ⁴¹ “Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ⁴²  for the nations. ⁴³ 

Yesaya 49:8

49:8 This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;

in the day of deliverance I will help you;

I will protect you ⁴⁴  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ⁴⁵ 

to rebuild ⁴⁶  the land ⁴⁷ 

and to reassign the desolate property.

[18:32]  ¹ tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the Lord’s distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). See v. 30.

[18:32]  ² tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.

[18:32]  ³ tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”

[18:32]  sn Gives me strength. As the following context makes clear, this refers to physical and emotional strength for battle (see especially v. 39).

[18:32]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.

[18:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[18:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the one who] makes my feet like [those of ] a deer.”

[18:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “and on my high places he makes me walk.” The imperfect verbal form emphasizes God’s characteristic provision. The psalmist compares his agility in battle to the ability of a deer to negotiate rugged, high terrain without falling or being injured.

[18:33]  sn Habakkuk uses similar language to describe his faith during difficult times. See Hab 3:19.

[18:34]  ⁸ sn He trains my hands. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[18:34]  ⁹ tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms”; or “my arms bend a bow of bronze.” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) apparently means “pull back, bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The third feminine singular verbal form appears to agree with the feminine singular noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”). In this case the verb must be taken as Niphal (passive). However, it is possible that “my arms” is the subject of the verb and “bow” the object. In this case the verb is Piel (active). For other examples of a feminine singular verb being construed with a plural noun, see GKC 464 §145.k.

[18:34]  sn The strongest bow (Heb “bow of bronze”) probably refers to a bow laminated with bronze strips, or to a purely ceremonial or decorative bow made entirely from bronze. In the latter case the language is hyperbolic, for such a weapon would not be functional in battle.

[18:35]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “makes me great.”

[18:36]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you make wide my step under me.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives the psalmist the capacity to run quickly.

[18:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”

[18:37]  ¹⁶ tn 2 Sam 22:38 reads “destroy.”

[18:38]  ¹⁷ tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”

[18:38]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”

[18:38]  ¹⁹ sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.

[18:39]  ²⁰ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ²¹ tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[18:39]  sn My foes kneel before me. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 268.

[80:15]  ²² tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ²³ tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[80:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “burned with fire.”

[80:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “because of the rebuke of your face they perish.”

[80:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “may your hand be upon the man of your right hand.” The referent of the otherwise unattested phrase “man of your right hand,” is unclear. It may refer to the nation collectively as a man. (See the note on the word “yourself” in v. 17b.)

[80:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “upon the son of man you strengthened for yourself.” In its only other use in the Book of Psalms, the phrase “son of man” refers to the human race in general (see Ps 8:4). Here the phrase may refer to the nation collectively as a man. Note the use of the statement “you strengthened for yourself” both here and in v. 15, where the “son” (i.e., the branch of the vine) refers to Israel.

[80:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “stir up”; “arouse.”

[80:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “come for our deliverance.”

[7:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “don’t stop.”

[7:8]  ³¹ tc The LXX reads “your God” rather than the MT’s “our God.”

[7:8]  ³² tn After the negated jussive, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[7:9]  ³³ tn Heb “a lamb of milk”; NAB “an unweaned lamb”; NIV “a suckling lamb”; NCV “a baby lamb.”

[7:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “approached for battle against Israel.”

[7:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “before.”

[7:12]  ³⁶ tn Cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT “Jeshanah.”

[7:12]  ³⁷ sn The name Ebenezer (אֶבֶן הָעָזֶר) means “stone of help” in Hebrew (cf. TEV); NLT adds the meaning parenthetically after the name.

[7:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “hand.”

[7:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “judged” (also in v. 17).

[7:16]  ⁴⁰ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[42:1]  ⁴¹ sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.

[42:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[42:1]  ⁴³ sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.

[49:8]  ⁴⁴ tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).

[49:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.

[49:8]  ⁴⁶ tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”

[49:8]  ⁴⁷ tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.