Psalms 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands;¹

I do not deviate from them.²

Psalms 17:8

17:8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye!³

Hide me in the shadow of your wings!⁴

Psalms 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers⁵ of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly.⁶

Psalms 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes⁷ justice,

and never abandons⁸ his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure,⁹

but the children¹⁰ of evil men are wiped out.¹¹

Psalms 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects¹² the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power¹³ of the wicked.

Psalms 116:6

116:6 The Lord protects¹⁴ the untrained;¹⁵

I was in serious trouble¹⁶ and he delivered me.

Proverbs 2:8

2:8 to guard¹⁷ the paths of the righteous¹⁸

and to protect¹⁹ the way of his pious ones.²⁰

¹tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

²tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

³tc 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.

⁴sn Your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.

⁵tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

⁶tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

⁷tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

⁸tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

⁹tn Or “protected forever.”

¹⁰tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

¹¹tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

¹²tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

¹³tn Heb “hand.”

¹⁴tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.

¹⁵tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.

¹⁶tn Heb “I was low.”

¹⁷tn The infinitive construct לִנְצֹר (lintsor, “to guard”) designates the purpose of the Lord giving “effective counsel” and being a “shield” to the upright. The verb נָצַר (natsar, “to guard”) has a broad range of meanings: (1) to watch over, guard or protect a vineyard from theft (Prov 27:18); (2) to guard one’s lips or heart from evil (Prov 4:23; 13:3); (3) to protect a person from moral or physical danger (Prov 2:8, 11; 4:6; 13:6; 20:28; 22:12; 24:12) and (4) to guard with fidelity = to observe commands, law or covenant (Prov 3:1, 21; 4:13; 5:2; 6:20; 28:7; see BDB 665-66 s.v.). Here God guards the way of the just, that is, the course and conduct of life from the influence of evil.

¹⁸tn Heb “paths of righteousness.” The word “righteousness” is a possessive genitive, signifying the ways that the righteous take.

¹⁹tn The imperfect tense verb יִשְׁמֹר (yishmor, “to protect”) continues the syntactical nuance of the preceding infinitive construct of purpose.

²⁰tc The Kethib is the singular noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix חֲסִידוֹ (khasido) “his pious one.” The Qere reads the plural noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix חֲסִידָיו (khasidav) “his pious ones.” The LXX εὐλαβουμένων αὐτόν (eujlaboumenwn aujton) supports the Qere reading.