18:36 You widen my path; 1
my feet 2 do not slip.
18:39 You give me strength 3 for battle;
you make my foes kneel before me. 4
18:47 The one true God 5 completely vindicates me; 6
he makes nations submit to me. 7
144:2 who loves me 8 and is my stronghold,
my refuge 9 and my deliverer,
my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,
who makes nations submit to me. 10
1 tn Heb “you make wide my step under me.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives the psalmist the capacity to run quickly.
2 tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”
3 tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.
4 tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”
5 tn Heb “the God.” See v. 32.
6 tn Heb “is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication.
7 tn Heb “he subdues nations beneath me.” On the meaning of the verb דָּבַר (davar, “subdue,” a homonym of דָּבַר, davar, “speak”), see HALOT 209-10 s.v. I דבר. See also Ps 47:3 and 2 Chr 22:10. 2 Sam 22:48 reads “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”
7 tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).
8 tn Or “my elevated place.”
9 tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”