Mazmur 18:32-42

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 

18:40 You make my enemies retreat; ²² 

I destroy those who hate me. ²³ 

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; ²⁴ 

they cry out to the Lord, ²⁵  but he does not answer them.

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; ²⁶ 

I beat them underfoot ²⁷  like clay ²⁸  in the streets.

Mazmur 144:1

Psalm 144 ²⁹ 

By David.

144:1 The Lord, my protector, ³⁰  deserves praise ³¹  –

the one who trains my hands for battle, ³² 

and my fingers for war,

Bilangan 24:18-19

24:18 Edom will be a possession,

Seir, ³³  his enemies, will also be a possession;

but Israel will act valiantly.

24:19 A ruler will be established from Jacob;

he will destroy the remains of the city.’” ³⁴ 

Yosua 1:9

1:9 I repeat, ³⁵  be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, ³⁶  for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” ³⁷ 

Yosua 14:12

14:12 Now, assign me this hill country which the Lord promised me at that time! No doubt you heard at that time that the Anakites live there in large, fortified cities. ³⁸  But, assuming the Lord is with me, I will conquer ³⁹  them, as the Lord promised.”

Yosua 14:2

14:2 The land assignments to the nine-and-a-half tribes were made by drawing lots, as the Lord had instructed Moses. ⁴⁰ 

1 Samuel 10:12

10:12 A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?”

1 Samuel 10:1

Samuel Anoints Saul

10:1 Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s ⁴¹  head. Samuel ⁴²  kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you ⁴³  to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen ⁴⁴  you as leader over his inheritance. ⁴⁵ 

1 Samuel 19:13

19:13 Then Michal took a household idol ⁴⁶  and put it on the bed. She put a quilt ⁴⁷  made of goat’s hair over its head ⁴⁸  and then covered the idol with a garment.

[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.

[18:40]  ²² tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.

[18:40]  ²³ sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the Lord who delivered the psalmist from those who hated him.

[18:41]  ²⁴ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[18:41]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to the Lord.” The words “they cry out” are supplied in the translation because they are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[18:41]  sn They cry out. This reference to the psalmist’s enemies crying out for help to the Lord suggests that the psalmist refers here to enemies within the covenant community, rather than foreigners. However, the militaristic context suggests foreign enemies are in view. Ancient Near Eastern literature indicates that defeated enemies would sometimes cry out for mercy to the god(s) of their conqueror. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 271.

[18:42]  ²⁶ tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”

[18:42]  ²⁷ tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.

[18:42]  ²⁸ tn Or “mud.”

[144:1]  ²⁹ sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.

[144:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[144:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord, my rocky summit.”

[144:1]  ³² sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[24:18]  ³³ sn Seir is the chief mountain range of Edom (Deut 33:2), and so the reference here is to the general area of Edom.

[24:19]  ³⁴ tn Or, understanding the Hebrew word for “city” as a place name, “of Ir” (cf. NRSV, NLT).

[1:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Have I not commanded you?” The rhetorical question emphasizes the importance of the following command by reminding the listener that it is being repeated.

[1:9]  ³⁶ tn Or perhaps, “don’t get discouraged!”

[1:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in all which you go.”

[14:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “are there and large, fortified cities.”

[14:12]  ³⁹ tn Or “will dispossess.”

[14:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord had commanded by Moses, to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.”

[10:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ⁴² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Samuel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you?” The question draws attention to the fact and is a rhetorical way of affirming the Lord’s choice of Saul. The translation reflects the rhetorical force of the question.

[10:1]  ⁴⁴ tn That is, “anointed.”

[10:1]  ⁴⁵ tc The MT reads simply “Is it not that the Lord has anointed you over his inheritance for a leader?” The translation follows the LXX. The MT apparently suffers from parablepsis, whereby a scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence of the expression “the Lord has anointed you” to the second occurrence of this expression at the end of v. 1. This mistake caused the accidental omission of the intervening material in the LXX, which appears to preserve the original Hebrew text here.

[19:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “teraphim” (also a second time in this verse and once in v. 16). These were statues that represented various deities. According to 2 Kgs 23:24 they were prohibited during the time of Josiah’s reform movement in the seventh century. The idol Michal placed under the covers was of sufficient size to give the mistaken impression that David lay in the bed, thus facilitating his escape.

[19:13]  ⁴⁷ tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word כָּבִיר (kavir) is uncertain; it is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in v. 16. It probably refers to a quilt made of goat’s hair, perhaps used as a fly net while one slept. See HALOT 458 s.v. *כָּבִיר. Cf. KJV, TEV “pillow”; NLT “cushion”; NAB, NRSV “net.”

[19:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “at the place of its head.”