Deuteronomy 32:4

32:4 As for the Rock, ¹  his work is perfect,

for all his ways are just.

He is a reliable God who is never unjust,

he is fair ²  and upright.

Deuteronomy 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ³ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Deuteronomy 22:1

Laws Concerning Preservation of Life

22:1 When you see ⁴  your neighbor’s ⁵  ox or sheep going astray, do not ignore it; ⁶  you must return it without fail ⁷  to your neighbor.

Psalms 18:46

18:46 The Lord is alive! ⁸ 

My protector ⁹  is praiseworthy! ¹⁰ 

The God who delivers me ¹¹  is exalted as king! ¹² 

Psalms 89:26

89:26 He will call out to me,

‘You are my father, ¹³  my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ ¹⁴ 

Psalms 95:1

Psalm 95 ¹⁵ 

95:1 Come! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord!

Let’s shout out praises to our protector who delivers us! ¹⁶ 

[32:4]  ¹ tc The LXX reads Θεός (qeos, “God”) for the MT’s “Rock.”

[32:4]  ² tn Or “just” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) or “righteous” (NASB).

[32:2]  ³ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[22:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “you must not see,” but, if translated literally into English, the statement is misleading.

[22:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “brother’s” (also later in this verse). In this context it is not limited to one’s siblings, however; cf. NAB “your kinsman’s.”

[22:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “hide yourself.”

[22:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with the words “without fail.”

[18:46]  ⁸ tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) is used exclusively as an oath formula, “as surely as the Lord lives,” but this is not the case here, for no oath follows. Here the statement is an affirmation of the Lord’s active presence and intervention. In contrast to pagan deities, he demonstrates he is the living God by rescuing and empowering the psalmist.

[18:46]  ⁹ tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection. See similar phrases in vv. 2, 31.

[18:46]  ¹⁰ tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”

[18:46]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the God of my deliverance.” 2 Sam 22:48 reads, “the God of the rocky cliff of my deliverance.”

[18:46]  ¹² tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Elsewhere in the psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 46:10; 57:5, 11).

[89:26]  ¹³ sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[89:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”

[95:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.

[95:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to the rocky summit of our deliverance.”