5:11 But may all who take shelter 1 in you be happy! 2
May they continually 3 shout for joy! 4
Shelter them 5 so that those who are loyal to you 6 may rejoice! 7
For the music director; a psalm of David.
21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give; 9
he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide. 10
For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; 12 a prayer 13 of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. 14
57:1 Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me!
For in you I have taken shelter. 15
In the shadow of your wings 16 I take shelter
until trouble passes.
61:4 I will be a permanent guest in your home; 17
I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. 18 (Selah)
For the music director; to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David.
61:1 O God, hear my cry for help!
Pay attention to my prayer!
A prayer of David.
17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! 21
Pay attention to my cry for help!
Listen to the prayer
I sincerely offer! 22
17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! 23
Decide what is right! 24
1 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
2 tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer. The psalmist calls on God to reward his faithful followers.
3 tn Or perhaps more hyperbolically, “forever.”
4 tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer.
5 tn Heb “put a cover over them.” The verb form is a Hiphil imperfect from סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “cover, shut off”). The imperfect expresses the psalmist’s wish or request.
6 tn Heb “the lovers of your name.” The phrase refers to those who are loyal to the Lord. See Pss 69:36; 119:132; Isa 56:6.
7 tn The vav (ו) with prefixed verbal form following the volitional “shelter them” indicates purpose or result (“so that those…may rejoice).
8 sn Psalm 21. The psalmist praises the Lord for the way he protects and blesses the Davidic king.
9 tn Heb “in your strength.” The translation interprets the pronominal suffix as subjective, rather than merely descriptive (or attributive).
10 tn Heb “and in your deliverance, how greatly he rejoices.”
11 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.
12 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.
13 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.”
14 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.
15 tn Heb “my life has taken shelter.” The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.
16 sn In the shadow of your wings. The metaphor likens God to a protective mother bird (see also Pss 17:8; 36:7).
17 tn Heb “I will live as a resident alien in your tent permanently.” The cohortative is understood here as indicating resolve. Another option is to take it as expressing a request, “please let me live” (cf. NASB, NRSV).
18 sn I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.
19 sn Psalm 61. The psalmist cries out for help and expresses his confidence that God will protect him.
20 sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.
21 tn Heb “hear,
22 tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”
23 tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.
24 tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)
25 tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”
26 tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”