Psalms 27:1

Psalm 27 1 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! 2 

I fear no one! 3 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! 4 

Psalms 32:7-8

32:7 You are my hiding place;

you protect me from distress.

You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance. 5  (Selah)

32:8 I will instruct and teach you 6  about how you should live. 7 

I will advise you as I look you in the eye. 8 

Psalms 127:1

Psalm 127 9 

A song of ascents, 10  by Solomon.

127:1 If the Lord does not build a house, 11 

then those who build it work in vain.

If the Lord does not guard a city, 12 

then the watchman stands guard in vain.

Isaiah 27:3

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; 13 

I water it regularly. 14 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. 15 

1 sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

2 tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

3 tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

4 tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

5 tn Heb “[with] shouts of joy of deliverance you surround me.”

6 tn The second person pronominal forms in this verse are singular. The psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually (see also the note on the word “eye” in the next line). A less likely option (but one which is commonly understood) is that the Lord addresses the psalmist in vv. 8-9 (cf. NASB “I will instruct you and teach you…I will counsel you with My eye upon you”).

7 tn Heb “I will instruct you and I will teach you in the way [in] which you should walk.”

8 tn Heb “I will advise, upon you my eye,” that is, “I will offer advice [with] my eye upon you.” In 2 Chr 20:12 the statement “our eye is upon you” means that the speakers are looking to the Lord for intervention. Here the expression “my eye upon you” may simply mean that the psalmist will teach his pupils directly and personally.

9 sn Psalm 127. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist teaches that one does not find security by one’s own efforts, for God alone gives stability and security.

10 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

11 sn The expression build a house may have a double meaning here. It may refer on the surface level to a literal physical structure in which a family lives, but at a deeper, metaphorical level it refers to building, perpetuating, and maintaining a family line. See Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; 1 Sam 2:35; 2 Sam 7:27; 1 Kgs 11:38; 1 Chr 17:10, 25. Having a family line provided security in ancient Israel.

12 sn The city symbolizes community security, which is the necessary framework for family security.

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

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

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