24:8 Who is this majestic king? 1
The Lord who is strong and mighty!
The Lord who is mighty in battle!
76:3 There he shattered the arrows, 2
the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. 3 (Selah)
140:2 who plan ways to harm me. 4
All day long they stir up conflict. 5
By David.
144:1 The Lord, my protector, 7 deserves praise 8 –
the one who trains my hands for battle, 9
and my fingers for war,
1 sn Who is this majestic king? Perhaps the personified gates/doors ask this question, in response to the command given in v. 7.
2 tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.
3 tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.
3 tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”
4 tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.
4 sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.
5 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The
6 tn Heb “blessed [be] the
7 sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.