Psalms 121:3-5

121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector ¹  not sleep! ² 

121:4 Look! Israel’s protector ³ 

does not sleep or slumber!

121:5 The Lord is your protector;

the Lord is the shade at your right hand.

Isaiah 27:3

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; ⁴ 

I water it regularly. ⁵ 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. ⁶ 

Zechariah 2:4-5

2:4 and said to him, “Hurry, speak to this young man ⁷  as follows: ‘Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls ⁸  because of the multitude of people and animals there. 2:5 But I (the Lord says) will be a wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem ⁹  and the source of glory in her midst.’”

¹ tn Heb “the one who guards you.”

² tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8.

³ tn Heb “the one who guards Israel.”

⁴ tn Heb “her.” Apparently “vineyard” is the antecedent, though normally this noun is understood as masculine (see Lev 25:3, however).

⁵ tn Or perhaps, “constantly.” Heb “by moments.”

⁶ tn Heb “lest [someone] visit [harm] upon it, night and day I guard it.”

⁷ sn That is, to Zechariah.

⁸ tn Heb “Jerusalem will dwell as open regions (פְּרָזוֹת, pÿrazot)”; cf. NAB “in open country”; CEV “won’t have any boundaries.” The population will be so large as to spill beyond the ancient and normal enclosures. The people need not fear, however, for the Lord will be an invisible but strong wall (v. 5).

⁹ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.