Text -- Psalms 144:1-2 (NET)

Psalm 144

144:1 By David. The Lord, my protector, deserves praise– the one who trains my hands for battle, and my fingers for war, 144:2 who loves me and is my stronghold, my refuge and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I take shelter, who makes nations submit to me.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 144:1

¹ sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.

² tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

³ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord, my rocky summit.”

⁴ sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

NET Notes: Psa 144:2

¹ tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).

² tn Or “my elevated place.”

³ tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”