Psalms 18:2
Context18:2 The Lord is my high ridge, 1 my stronghold, 2 my deliverer.
My God is my rocky summit where 3 I take shelter, 4
my shield, the horn that saves me, 5 and my refuge. 6
Psalms 22:1
ContextFor the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” 8 a psalm of David.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 9
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 10
Psalms 27:6
Context27:6 Now I will triumph
over my enemies who surround me! 11
I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! 12
I will sing praises to the Lord!
Psalms 28:7
Context28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; 13
I trust in him with all my heart. 14
I am rescued 15 and my heart is full of joy; 16
I will sing to him in gratitude. 17
Psalms 31:10
Context31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;
my years draw to a close as I groan. 18
My strength fails me because of 19 my sin,
and my bones become brittle. 20
Psalms 31:13
Context31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, 21
the terrifying news that comes from every direction. 22
When they plot together against me,
they figure out how they can take my life.
Psalms 40:3
Context40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, 23
praising our God. 24
May many see what God has done,
so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord! 25
Psalms 43:4
Context43:4 Then I will go 26 to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, 27
so that I express my thanks to you, 28 O God, my God, with a harp.
Psalms 55:23
Context55:23 But you, O God, will bring them 29 down to the deep Pit. 30
Violent and deceitful people 31 will not live even half a normal lifespan. 32
But as for me, I trust in you.
Psalms 59:16
Context59:16 As for me, I will sing about your strength;
I will praise your loyal love in the morning.
For you are my refuge 33
and my place of shelter when I face trouble. 34
Psalms 73:28
Context73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. 35
I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,
as 36 I declare all the things you have done.
Psalms 77:1
ContextFor the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.
77:1 I will cry out to God 38 and call for help!
I will cry out to God and he will pay attention 39 to me.
Psalms 131:1
ContextA song of ascents, 41 by David.
131:1 O Lord, my heart is not proud,
nor do I have a haughty look. 42
I do not have great aspirations,
or concern myself with things that are beyond me. 43
Psalms 137:6
Context137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
and do not give Jerusalem priority
over whatever gives me the most joy. 44
1 sn My high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
2 sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.
3 tn Or “in whom.”
4 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
5 tn Heb “the horn of my salvation”; or “my saving horn.”
sn Though some see “horn” as referring to a horn-shaped peak of a hill, or to the “horns” of an altar where one could find refuge, it is more likely that the horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (cf. Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). In the ancient Near East powerful warrior-kings would sometimes compare themselves to a goring bull that uses its horns to kill its enemies. For examples, see P. Miller, “El the Warrior,” HTR 60 (1967): 422-25, and R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 135-36. Ps 18:2 uses the metaphor of the horn in a slightly different manner. Here the Lord himself is compared to a horn. He is to the psalmist what the horn is to the ox, a source of defense and victory.
6 tn Or “my elevated place.” The parallel version of this psalm in 2 Sam 22:3 adds at this point, “my refuge, my savior, [you who] save me from violence.”
7 sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.
8 tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.
9 sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).
10 tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.
11 tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”
sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).
12 tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).
13 tn Heb “The
14 tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”
15 tn Or “I am helped.”
16 tn Heb “and my heart exults.”
17 tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.
18 tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”
19 tn Heb “stumbles in.”
20 tn Heb “grow weak.”
21 tn Heb “the report of many.”
22 tn Heb “the terror from all around.”
23 sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.
24 tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”
25 tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the
26 tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”
27 tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
28 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.
29 tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
30 tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
31 tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
32 tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
33 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
34 tn Heb “and my shelter in the day of my distress.”
35 tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”
36 tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).
37 sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.
38 tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.
39 tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).
40 sn Psalm 131. The psalmist affirms his humble dependence on the Lord and urges Israel to place its trust in God.
41 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
42 tn Heb “and my eyes are not lifted up.”
43 tn Heb “I do not walk in great things, and in things too marvelous for me.”
44 tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”