17:8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! 1
Hide me in the shadow of your wings! 2
For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; 4 a prayer 5 of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. 6
57:1 Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me!
For in you I have taken shelter. 7
In the shadow of your wings 8 I take shelter
until trouble passes.
62:7 God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter. 9
63:7 For you are my deliverer; 10
under your wings 11 I rejoice.
91:4 He will shelter you 12 with his wings; 13
you will find safety under his wings.
His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. 14
142:4 Look to the right and see!
No one cares about me. 15
I have nowhere to run; 16
no one is concerned about my life. 17
142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my shelter,
my security 18 in the land of the living.”
23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 22 you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! 23 How often I have longed 24 to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but 25 you would have none of it! 26
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 sn Psalm 57. The psalmist asks for God’s protection and expresses his confidence that his ferocious enemies will be destroyed by their own schemes.
4 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 58-59, 75.
5 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56, 58-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
6 sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when he fled from Saul and hid in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3.
7 tn Heb “my life has taken shelter.” The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.
8 sn In the shadow of your wings. The metaphor likens God to a protective mother bird (see also Pss 17:8; 36:7).
9 tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”
10 tn Or “[source of] help.”
11 tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”
12 tn Heb “put a cover over you” (see Ps 5:11).
13 tc The Hebrew text has the singular, but the plural should be read. The final yod (י) of the suffix, which indicates the plural, has dropped off by haplography (note the yod [י] at the beginning of the next word).
14 tn Traditionally the Hebrew term סֹחֵרָה (sokherah), which occurs only here in the OT, has been understood to refer to a buckler or small shield (see BDB 695 s.v.). But HALOT 750 s.v., on the basis of evidence from the cognate languages, proposes the meaning “wall.”
15 tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”
16 tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”
17 tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”
18 tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the
19 tn Heb “repay your work”; KJV, ASV “recompense thy work.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the jussive form in the next clause).
20 tn Heb “may your wages be complete”; NCV “May your wages be paid in full.” The prefixed verbal form is a distinct jussive form, indicating that this is a prayer for blessing.
21 tn Heb “under whose wings you have sought shelter”; NIV, NLT “have come to take refuge.”
22 sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.
23 tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).
24 sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.
25 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
26 tn Grk “you were not willing.”
27 tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.