Deuteronomy 20:4

20:4 for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.” ¹ 

Joshua 10:42

10:42 Joshua captured in one campaign ²  all these kings and their lands, for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.

Joshua 10:1

Israel Defeats an Amorite Coalition

10:1 Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, ³  heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho ⁴  and its king. ⁵  He also heard how ⁶  the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.

Joshua 1:1-2

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 1:2 “Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! ⁷  Cross the Jordan River! ⁸  Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. ⁹ 

Joshua 5:1

5:1 When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they ¹⁰  crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. ¹¹ 

Joshua 5:1

5:1 When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they ¹²  crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. ¹³ 

Psalms 44:1-5

Psalm 44 ¹⁴ 

For the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. ¹⁵ 

44:1 O God, we have clearly heard; ¹⁶ 

our ancestors ¹⁷  have told us

what you did ¹⁸  in their days,

in ancient times. ¹⁹ 

44:2 You, by your power, ²⁰  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ²¹ 

you crushed ²²  the people living there ²³  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ²⁴ 

44:3 For they did not conquer ²⁵  the land by their swords,

and they did not prevail by their strength, ²⁶ 

but rather by your power, ²⁷  strength ²⁸  and good favor, ²⁹ 

for you were partial to ³⁰  them.

44:4 You are my ³¹  king, O God!

Decree ³²  Jacob’s ³³  deliverance!

44:5 By your power ³⁴  we will drive back ³⁵  our enemies;

by your strength ³⁶  we will trample down ³⁷  our foes! ³⁸ 

[20:4]  ¹ tn Or “to save you” (so KJV, NASB, NCV); or “to deliver you.”

[10:42]  ² tn Heb “at one time.”

[10:1]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:1]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[10:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “as he had done to Jericho and to its king, so he did to Ai and to its king.”

[10:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “and how.”

[1:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Get up!”

[1:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “this Jordan”; the word “River” has been supplied in the translation for clarity (likewise in v. 11).

[1:2]  ⁹ tc Heb “Cross over this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land that I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.” The final phrase, “to the children of Israel,” is probably a later scribal addition specifying the identity of “these people/them.”

[5:1]  ¹⁰ tc Another textual tradition has, “while we crossed.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their heart[s] melted and there was no longer in them breathe because of the sons of Israel.”

[5:1]  ¹² tc Another textual tradition has, “while we crossed.”

[5:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “their heart[s] melted and there was no longer in them breathe because of the sons of Israel.”

[44:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.

[44:1]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[44:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “with our ears we have heard.”

[44:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 2; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “fathers” or “ancestors” depending on the context.

[44:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the work you worked.”

[44:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the days of old.” This refers specifically to the days of Joshua, during Israel’s conquest of the land, as vv. 2-3 indicate.

[44:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ²² tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ²³ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.

[44:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “take possession of.”

[44:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.

[44:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver (see Pss 17:7; 20:6; 21:8).

[44:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “your arm.”

[44:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[44:3]  ³⁰ tn Or “favorable toward.”

[44:4]  ³¹ sn The speaker changes here to an individual, perhaps the worship leader or the king. The oscillation between singular (vv. 4, 6) and plural (vv. 1-3, 5, 7-8) in vv. 1-8 may reflect an antiphonal ceremony.

[44:4]  ³² tc The LXX assumes a participle here (מְצַוֶּה [mÿtsavveh], “the one who commands/decrees”) which would stand in apposition to “my God.” It is possible that the MT, which has the imperative (צַוֵּה, tsavveh) form, has suffered haplography of the letter mem (ם). Note that the preceding word (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) ends in mem. Another option is that the MT is divided in the wrong place; perhaps one could move the final mem from אֱלֹהִים to the beginning of the next word and read מְצַוֶּה אֱלֹהָי (’elohay mÿtsavveh, “[You are my king,] my God, the one who decrees”).

[44:4]  ³³ tn That is, Israel. See Pss 14:7; 22:23.

[44:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “by you.”

[44:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “gore” (like an ox). If this portion of the psalm contains the song of confidence/petition the Israelites recited prior to battle, then the imperfects here and in the next line may express their expectation of victory. Another option is that the imperfects function in an emphatic generalizing manner. In this case one might translate, “you [always] drive back…you [always] trample down.”

[44:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in your name.” The Lord’s “name” refers here to his revealed character or personal presence. Specifically in this context his ability to deliver, protect, and energize for battle is in view (see Ps 54:1).

[44:5]  ³⁷ sn The image of the powerful wild ox continues; see the note on the phrase “drive back” in the preceding line.

[44:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “those who rise up [against] us.”