18:46 The Lord is alive! 1
My protector 2 is praiseworthy! 3
The God who delivers me 4 is exalted as king! 5
68:19 The Lord deserves praise! 6
Day after day 7 he carries our burden,
the God who delivers us. (Selah)
89:26 He will call out to me,
‘You are my father, 8 my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ 9
145:19 He satisfies the desire 10 of his loyal followers; 11
he hears their cry for help and delivers them.
1 tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) is used exclusively as an oath formula, “as surely as the
2 tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection. See similar phrases in vv. 2, 31.
3 tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”
4 tn Heb “the God of my deliverance.” 2 Sam 22:48 reads, “the God of the rocky cliff of my deliverance.”
5 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).
6 tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”
7 tn It is possible to take this phrase with what precedes (“The Lord deserves praise day after day”) rather than with what follows.
8 sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.
9 tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”
10 tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.
11 tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”