17:8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! 1
Hide me in the shadow of your wings! 2
27:5 He will surely 3 give me shelter 4 in the day of danger; 5
he will hide me in his home; 6
he will place me 7 on an inaccessible rocky summit. 8
31:20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks 9 of men; 10
you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks. 11
143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!
I run to you for protection. 12
1 tc Heb “Protect me like the pupil, a daughter of an eye.” The noun בַּת (bat, “daughter”) should probably be emended to בָּבַת (bavat, “pupil”). See Zech 2:12 HT (2:8 ET) and HALOT 107 s.v. *בָּבָה.
2 sn Your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.
3 tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.
4 tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”
5 tn Or “trouble.”
6 tn Heb “tent.”
7 tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.
8 tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The
9 tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.”
10 tn Heb “you hide them in the hiding place of your face from the attacks of man.” The imperfect verbal forms in this verse draw attention to God’s typical treatment of the faithful.
11 tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”
12 tn Heb “to you I cover,” which makes no sense. The translation assumes an emendation to נַסְתִּי (nastiy, “I flee,” a Qal perfect, first singular form from נוּס, nos). Confusion of kaf (כ) and nun (נ) is attested elsewhere (see P. K. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 48). The collocation of נוּס (“flee”) with אֶל (’el, “to”) is well-attested.