¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

² tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp, Lord.” 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neriy, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (’oriy, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 would, in this case, be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

³ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

⁴ tn Heb “my darkness.”

⁵ tn Or “for.”

⁶ tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of divine protection. See v. 2, where the Hebrew term צוּר (tsur) is translated “rocky summit.”

⁷ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the Lord is the only true God and reliable source of protection. See also Deut 32:39, where the Lord affirms that he is the only true God. Note as well the emphasis on his role as protector (Heb “rocky cliff,” צוּר, tsur) in Deut 32:4, 15, 17-18, 30.

⁸ tn Or “for.”

⁹ tn Or “have been.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “a strong tower from the face of an enemy.”

¹¹ tn Or “for.”

¹² sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.

¹³ tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the Lord” means “by the Lord’s power.”

¹⁴ tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.

¹⁵ tn Heb “my reproach that I fear.”

¹⁶ tn Or “for.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”

¹⁸ tn Or “for.”

¹⁹ sn His special possession. The language echoes Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18. See also Mal 3:17.