Psalms 27:2-3

27:2 When evil men attack me

to devour my flesh,

when my adversaries and enemies attack me,

they stumble and fall.

27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,

I do not fear.

Even when war is imminent,

I remain confident.


tn Heb “draw near to me.”

sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”

tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”

tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”