22:45 Foreigners are powerless before me; 1
when they hear of my exploits, they submit to me. 2
22:46 Foreigners lose their courage; 3
they shake with fear 4 as they leave 5 their strongholds. 6
22:47 The Lord is alive! 7
My protector 8 is praiseworthy! 9
The God who delivers me 10 is exalted as king! 11
22:48 The one true God completely vindicates me; 12
he makes nations submit to me. 13
22:49 He delivers me from my enemies; 14
you snatch me away 15 from those who attack me; 16
you rescue me from violent men.
22:50 So I will give you thanks, O Lord, before the nations! 17
I will sing praises to you. 18
22:51 He gives his chosen king magnificent victories; 19
he is faithful to his chosen ruler, 20
to David and to his descendants forever!”
1 tn For the meaning “to be weak; to be powerless” for the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash), see Ps 109:24. Verse 46, which also mentions foreigners, favors this interpretation. Another option is to translate “cower in fear” (see Deut 33:29; Pss 66:3; 81:15).
2 tn Heb “at a report of an ear they submit to me.” The report of David’s exploits is so impressive that those who hear it submit to his rulership without putting up a fight.
3 tn Heb “wither, wear out.”
4 tc The translation assumes a reading וְיַחְרְגוּ (vÿyakhrÿgu, “and they quaked”) rather than the MT וְיַחְגְּרוּ (vÿyakhgÿru, “and they girded themselves”). See the note at Ps 18:45.
5 tn Heb “from.”
6 tn Heb “prisons.” Their besieged cities are compared to prisons.
7 tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) as used exclusively as an oath formula, but this is not the case here, for no oath follows. Here the statement is an affirmation of the
8 tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection.
9 tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”
10 tn Heb “the God of the rock of my deliverance.” The term צוּר (tsur, “rock”) is probably accidentally repeated from the previous line. The parallel version in Ps 18:46 has simply “the God of my deliverance.”
11 tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”) when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 46:10; 57:5, 11).
12 tn Heb “The God is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun “vengeance” indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication. In the ancient Near East military victory was sometimes viewed as a sign that one’s God had judged in favor of the victor, avenging and/or vindicating him. See, for example, Judg 11:27, 32-33, 36.
13 tn Heb “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”
14 tn Heb “and [the one who] brings me out from my enemies.”
15 tn Heb “you lift me up.” In light of the preceding and following references to deliverance, the verb רוּם (rum) probably here refers to being rescued from danger (see Ps 9:13). However, it could mean “exalt; elevate” here, indicating that the
16 tn Heb “from those who rise against me.”
17 sn This probably alludes to the fact that David will praise the
18 tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “
19 tc The translation follows the Kethib and the ancient versions in reading מַגְדִּיל (magdil, “he magnifies”) rather than the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
20 tn Heb “[the one who] does loyalty to his anointed one.”