29:20 My glory 1 will always be fresh 2 in me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
18:32 The one true God 3 gives 4 me strength; 5
he removes 6 the obstacles in my way. 7
18:33 He gives me the agility of a deer; 8
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. 9
18:34 He trains my hands for battle; 10
my arms can bend even the strongest bow. 11
18:35 You give me your protective shield; 12
your right hand supports me; 13
your willingness to help 14 enables me to prevail. 15
37:14 Evil men draw their swords
and prepare their bows,
to bring down 16 the oppressed and needy,
and to slaughter those who are godly. 17
37:15 Their swords will pierce 18 their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
44:7 For you deliver 19 us from our enemies;
you humiliate 20 those who hate us.
1 tn The word is “my glory,” meaning his high respect and his honor. Hoffmann proposed to read כִּידוֹן (kidon) instead, meaning “javelin” (as in 1 Sam 17:6), to match the parallelism (RQ 3 [1961/62]: 388). But the parallelism does not need to be so tight.
2 tn Heb “new.”
3 tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the
4 tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.
5 tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”
6 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.
7 tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).
8 tn Heb “[the one who] makes my feet like [those of ] a deer.”
9 tn Heb “and on my high places he makes me walk.” The imperfect verbal form emphasizes God’s characteristic provision. The psalmist compares his agility in battle to the ability of a deer to negotiate rugged, high terrain without falling or being injured.
10 sn He trains my hands. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.
11 tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms”; or “my arms bend a bow of bronze.” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) apparently means “pull back, bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The third feminine singular verbal form appears to agree with the feminine singular noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”). In this case the verb must be taken as Niphal (passive). However, it is possible that “my arms” is the subject of the verb and “bow” the object. In this case the verb is Piel (active). For other examples of a feminine singular verb being construed with a plural noun, see GKC 464 §145.k.
12 tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”
13 tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).
14 tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”
15 tn Heb “makes me great.”
16 tn Heb “to cause to fall.”
17 tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.
18 tn Heb “enter into.”
19 tn Or “have delivered,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).
20 tn Or “have humiliated,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).
21 tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the
22 tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.
23 tc Most