Deuteronomy 1:29

1:29 So I responded to you, “Do not be terrified ¹  of them!

Deuteronomy 3:6

3:6 We put all of these under divine judgment ²  just as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon – every occupied city, ³  including women and children.

Deuteronomy 31:6

31:6 Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you!”

Psalms 27:1-2

Psalm 27 ⁴ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ⁵ 

I fear no one! ⁶ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ⁷ 

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁸ 

to devour my flesh, ⁹ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ¹⁰ 

they stumble and fall. ¹¹ 

Psalms 46:1-2

Psalm 46 ¹² 

For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; ¹³  a song.

46:1 God is our strong refuge; ¹⁴ 

he is truly our helper in times of trouble. ¹⁵ 

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ¹⁶  when the earth shakes, ¹⁷ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 41:10-14

41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!

Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! ¹⁹ 

I strengthen you –

yes, I help you –

yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand! ²⁰ 

41:11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;

your adversaries ²¹  will be reduced to nothing ²²  and perish.

41:12 When you will look for your opponents, ²³  you will not find them;

your enemies ²⁴  will be reduced to absolutely nothing.

41:13 For I am the Lord your God,

the one who takes hold of your right hand,

who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’

41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised insignificant Jacob, ²⁵ 

men of ²⁶  Israel.

I am helping you,” says the Lord,

your protector, ²⁷  the Holy One of Israel. ²⁸ 

[1:29]  ¹ tn Heb “do not tremble and do not be afraid.” Two synonymous commands are combined for emphasis.

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.

[3:6]  ³ tn Heb “city of men.”

[27:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ⁵ 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).

[27:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ⁹ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ¹¹ 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.”

[46:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.

[46:1]  ¹³ sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.

[46:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”

[46:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.

[46:2]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect is taken in a generalizing sense (cf. NEB) because the situation described in vv. 2-3 is understood as symbolizing typical world conditions. In this case the imperfect draws attention to the typical nature of the response. The covenant community characteristically responds with confidence, not fear. Another option is to take the situation described as purely hypothetical. In this case one might translate, “We will not fear, even though the earth should shake” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[46:2]  ¹⁷ tn The Hiphil infinitival form is normally taken to mean “when [the earth] is altered,” being derived from מוּר (mur, “to change”). In this case the Hiphil would be intransitive, as in Ps 15:4. HALOT 560 s.v. II מור emends the form to a Niphal and derives it from a homonymic root מוּר attested in Arabic with the meaning “shake.”

[46:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “heart of the seas.” The plural may be used for emphasis, pointing to the deepest sea. Note that the next verse uses a singular pronoun (“its waters,” “its swelling”) in referring back to the plural noun.

[41:10]  ¹⁹ tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishta’) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”) which is attested in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yare’, “fear”).

[41:10]  ²⁰ tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).

[41:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “the men of your strife”; NASB “those who contend with you.”

[41:11]  ²² tn Heb “like nothing”; NAB “come to nought.”

[41:12]  ²³ tn Heb “the men of your struggle”; NASB “those who quarrel with you.”

[41:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the men of your battle”; NAB “who do battle with you.”

[41:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “O worm Jacob” (NAB, NIV). The worm metaphor suggests that Jacob is insignificant and despised.

[41:14]  ²⁶ tn On the basis of the parallelism (note “worm”) and an alleged Akkadian cognate, some read “louse” or “weevil.” Cf. NAB “O maggot Israel”; NRSV “you insect Israel.”

[41:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your kinsman redeemer.” A גָּאַל (ga’al, “kinsman redeemer”) was a protector of the extended family’s interests.

[41:14]  ²⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.