Text -- Psalms 144:1-4 (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. 144:3 O Lord, of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should be concerned about them? 144:4 People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.

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.”

NET Notes: Psa 144:3

¹ tn Heb “What is mankind?” The singular noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race. See Ps 8:5.

² tn Heb “and the son of man.” The phrase “son of man” is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12.

³ tn Heb “take account of him.” The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God’s characteristic activity.

NET Notes: Psa 144:4

¹ tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”

² tn Heb “his days [are] like a shadow that passes away,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.