35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, 1
and rise up to help me!
139:10 even there your hand would guide me,
your right hand would grab hold of me.
144:7 Reach down 2 from above!
Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, 3
from the power of foreigners, 4
144:11 Grab me and rescue me from the power of foreigners, 5
who speak lies,
and make false promises. 6
1 tn Two different types of shields are mentioned here. See also Ezek 38:4. Many modern translations render the first term (translated here “small shield”) as “buckler” (cf. NASB “buckler and shield”; the order is often reversed in the translation, apparently for stylistic reasons: cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV “shield and buckler”). The English term “buckler,” referring to a small round shield held on the arm to protect the upper body, is unfamiliar to many modern readers, so the term “small shield” was used in the present translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”
3 tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful foreign enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see the next line and Ps 18:16-17).
4 tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”
5 tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”
6 tn Heb “who [with] their mouth speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” See v. 8 where the same expression occurs.