Isaiah 4:5

4:5 Then the Lord will create

over all of Mount Zion ¹ 

and over its convocations

a cloud and smoke by day

and a bright flame of fire by night; ² 

indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. ³ 

Isaiah 28:15

28:15 For you say,

“We have made a treaty with death,

with Sheol ⁴  we have made an agreement. ⁵ 

When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by ⁶ 

it will not reach us.

For we have made a lie our refuge,

we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 28:20

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on,

and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. ⁸ 

Isaiah 32:2

32:2 Each of them ⁹  will be like a shelter from the wind

and a refuge from a rainstorm;

like streams of water in a dry region

and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.

Psalms 61:4

61:4 I will be a permanent guest in your home; ¹⁰ 

I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. ¹¹  (Selah)

Psalms 91:1-4

Psalm 91 ¹² 

91:1 As for you, the one who lives ¹³  in the shelter of the sovereign One, ¹⁴ 

and resides in the protective shadow ¹⁵  of the mighty king ¹⁶  –

91:2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust –

91:3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter ¹⁷ 

and from the destructive plague.

91:4 He will shelter you ¹⁸  with his wings; ¹⁹ 

you will find safety under his wings.

His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. ²⁰ 

[4:5]  ¹ tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”

[4:5]  ² tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.

[4:5]  ³ tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.

[28:15]  ⁴ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

[28:15]  ⁵ tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

[28:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

[28:15]  ⁷ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

[28:20]  ⁸ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

[32:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.

[61:4]  ¹⁰ 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).

[61:4]  ¹¹ sn I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.

[91:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 91. In this psalm an individual (perhaps a priest) addresses one who has sought shelter in the Lord and assures him that God will protect him from danger (vv. 1-13). In vv. 14-16 God himself promises to keep his loyal follower safe.

[91:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “[O] one who lives.”

[91:1]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally “the Most High.”

[91:1]  ¹⁵ sn The Lord is compared here to a bird who protects its young under the shadow of its wings (see v. 4).

[91:1]  ¹⁶ sn The divine name used here is “Shaddai” (שַׁדַּי, shadday; see also Ps 68:14). Shaddai (or El Shaddai) is the mighty king (sovereign judge) of the world who grants life/blesses and kills/judges. In Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness.

[91:3]  ¹⁷ tn The word refers specifically to a fowler (or hunter of birds).

[91:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “put a cover over you” (see Ps 5:11).

[91:4]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text has the singular, but the plural should be read. The final yod (י) of the suffix, which indicates the plural, has dropped off by haplography (note the yod [י] at the beginning of the next word).

[91:4]  ²⁰ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term סֹחֵרָה (sokherah), which occurs only here in the OT, has been understood to refer to a buckler or small shield (see BDB 695 s.v.). But HALOT 750 s.v., on the basis of evidence from the cognate languages, proposes the meaning “wall.”