31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. The men of Israel fled from the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 31:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels 1 of Saul and his sons. They 2 struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. 31:3 Saul himself was in the thick of the battle; 3 the archers 4 spotted him and wounded him severely.
31:4 Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it. 31:5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him. 31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.
22:1 So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family 7 learned about it, they went down there to him.
22:1 So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family 8 learned about it, they went down there to him.
For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang 10 to the Lord the words of this song when 11 the Lord rescued him from the power 12 of all his enemies, including Saul. 13
18:1 He said: 14
“I love 15 you, Lord, my source of strength! 16
1 tn Heb “stuck close after.”
2 tn Heb “the Philistines.”
3 tn Heb “and the battle was heavy against Saul.”
4 tn Heb “the shooters, men with the bow.”
5 tn Heb “stuck close after.”
6 tn Heb “the Philistines.”
7 tn Heb “house.”
8 tn Heb “house.”
9 sn Psalm 18. In this long song of thanks, the psalmist (a Davidic king, traditionally understood as David himself) affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. The psalmist’s experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the psalm appears in 2 Sam 22:1-51.
10 tn Heb “spoke.”
11 tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”
12 tn Heb “hand.”
13 tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”
14 tn A number of translations (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) assign the words “he said” to the superscription, in which case the entire psalm is in first person. Other translations (e.g., NAB) include the introductory “he said” at the beginning of v. 1.
15 tn The verb רָחַם (rakham) elsewhere appears in the Piel (or Pual) verbal stem with the basic meaning, “have compassion.” The verb occurs only here in the basic (Qal) stem. The basic stem of the verbal root also occurs in Aramaic with the meaning “love” (see DNWSI 2:1068-69; Jastrow 1467 s.v. רָחַם; G. Schmuttermayr, “rhm: eine lexikalische Studie,” Bib 51 [1970]: 515-21). Since this introductory statement does not appear in the parallel version in 2 Sam 22:1-51, it is possible that it is a later addition to the psalm, made when the poem was revised for use in worship.
16 tn Heb “my strength.” “Strength” is metonymic here, referring to the Lord as the one who bestows strength to the psalmist; thus the translation “my source of strength.”