Mazmur 27:1-2

Psalm 27 ¹ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ² 

I fear no one! ³ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ⁴ 

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁵ 

to devour my flesh, ⁶ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ⁷ 

they stumble and fall. ⁸ 

Mazmur 46:2

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ⁹  when the earth shakes, ¹⁰ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ¹¹ 

Mazmur 56:3

56:3 When ¹²  I am afraid,

I trust in you.

Mazmur 56:1

Psalm 56 ¹³ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ¹⁴  a prayer ¹⁵  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ¹⁶ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ¹⁷ 

All day long hostile enemies ¹⁸  are tormenting me. ¹⁹ 

1 Samuel 27:1

David Aligns Himself with the Philistines

27:1 David thought to himself, ²⁰  “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

Yesaya 12:2

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ²¹ 

I will trust in him ²²  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ²³ 

he has become my deliverer.” ²⁴ 

Yesaya 12:2

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ²⁵ 

I will trust in him ²⁶  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ²⁷ 

he has become my deliverer.” ²⁸ 

Kolose 1:5-6

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ²⁹  from the hope laid up ³⁰  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ³¹  1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ³²  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ³³  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Kolose 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁴  brothers and sisters ³⁵  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁶  from God our Father! ³⁷ 

Titus 1:7

1:7 For the overseer ³⁸  must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, ³⁹  not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain.

[27:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ² tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ³ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ⁶ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.”

[46:2]  ⁹ tn The imperfect is taken in a generalizing sense (cf. NEB) because the situation described in vv. 2-3 is understood as symbolizing typical world conditions. In this case the imperfect draws attention to the typical nature of the response. The covenant community characteristically responds with confidence, not fear. Another option is to take the situation described as purely hypothetical. In this case one might translate, “We will not fear, even though the earth should shake” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[46:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Hiphil infinitival form is normally taken to mean “when [the earth] is altered,” being derived from מוּר (mur, “to change”). In this case the Hiphil would be intransitive, as in Ps 15:4. HALOT 560 s.v. II מור emends the form to a Niphal and derives it from a homonymic root מוּר attested in Arabic with the meaning “shake.”

[46:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “heart of the seas.” The plural may be used for emphasis, pointing to the deepest sea. Note that the next verse uses a singular pronoun (“its waters,” “its swelling”) in referring back to the plural noun.

[56:3]  ¹² tn Heb “[in] a day.”

[56:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ¹⁴ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ¹⁶ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ¹⁷ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.

[27:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “said to his heart.”

[12:2]  ²¹ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ²² tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ²³ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[12:2]  ²⁵ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ²⁶ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ²⁷ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[1:5]  ²⁹ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ³¹ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.

[1:6]  ³² tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ³³ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[1:2]  ³⁴ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³⁵ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³⁷ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:7]  ³⁸ sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.

[1:7]  ³⁹ tn Grk “as God’s steward.”