“The Lord is my high ridge, 1 my stronghold, 2 my deliverer.
22:36 You give me 3 your protective shield; 4
your willingness to help enables me to prevail. 5
22:41 You make my enemies retreat; 6
I destroy those who hate me.
1 tn Traditionally “is my rock”; CEV “mighty rock”; TEV “is my protector.” 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 tn Traditionally “my fortress”; TEV “my strong fortress”; NCV “my protection.”
3 tn Another option is to translate the prefixed verb with vav consecutive with a past tense, “you gave me.” Several prefixed verbal forms with vav consecutive also appear in vv. 38-44. The present translation understands this section as a description of what generally happened when the author charged into battle, but another option is to understand the section as narrative and translate accordingly.
4 tc Ps 18:35 contains an additional line following this one, which reads “your right hand supports me.” It may be omitted here due to homoioarcton. See the note at Ps 18:35.
5 tn Heb “your answer makes me great.” David refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer.
5 tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck” ].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” See Exod 23:27 and HALOT 888 s.v. II ערף.