Jeremiah 14:8

14:8 You have been the object of Israel’s hopes.

You have saved them when they were in trouble.

Why have you become like a resident foreigner ¹  in the land?

Why have you become like a traveler who only stops in to spend the night?

Psalms 3:8

3:8 The Lord delivers; ² 

you show favor to your people. ³  (Selah)

Psalms 37:39-40

37:39 But the Lord delivers the godly; ⁴ 

he protects them in times of trouble. ⁵ 

37:40 The Lord helps them and rescues them;

he rescues them from evil men and delivers them, ⁶ 

for they seek his protection.

Psalms 121:1-2

Psalm 121 ⁷ 

A song of ascents. ⁸ 

121:1 I look up ⁹  toward the hills.

From where ¹⁰  does my help come?

121:2 My help comes from the Lord, ¹¹ 

the Creator ¹²  of heaven and earth!

Isaiah 12:2

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ¹³ 

I will trust in him ¹⁴  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ¹⁵ 

he has become my deliverer.” ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 43:11

43:11 I, I am the Lord,

and there is no deliverer besides me.

Isaiah 45:15

45:15 Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,

O God of Israel, deliverer!

Isaiah 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ¹⁷ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 63:1

The Victorious Divine Warrior

63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, ¹⁹ 

dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? ²⁰ 

Who ²¹  is this one wearing royal attire, ²² 

who marches confidently ²³  because of his great strength?

“It is I, the one who announces vindication,

and who is able to deliver!” ²⁴ 

Isaiah 63:16

63:16 For you are our father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not recognize us.

You, Lord, are our father;

you have been called our protector from ancient times. ²⁵ 

Hosea 1:7

1:7 But I will have pity on the nation ²⁶  of Judah. ²⁷  I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by the warrior’s bow, by sword, by military victory, ²⁸  by chariot horses, or by chariots.” ²⁹ 

John 4:22

4:22 You people ³⁰  worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews. ³¹ 

[14:8]  ¹ tn It would be a mistake to translate this word as “stranger.” This word (גֵּר, ger) refers to a resident alien or resident foreigner who stays in a country not his own. He is accorded the privilege of protection through the common rights of hospitality but he does not have the rights of the native born or citizen. The simile here is particularly effective. The land was the Lord’s land; they were but resident foreigners and tenants on it (Lev 25:23). Jeremiah’s complaint here is particularly bold. For further information on the status of “resident foreigners” see IDB 4:397-99 s.v. “Sojourner.”

[3:8]  ² tn Heb “to the Lord [is] deliverance.”

[3:8]  ³ tn Heb “upon your people [is] your blessing.” In this context God’s “blessing” includes deliverance/protection, vindication, and sustained life (see Pss 21:3, 6; 24:5).

[37:39]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the deliverance of the godly [ones] [is] from the Lord.”

[37:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “[he is] their place of refuge in a time of trouble.”

[37:40]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry on the generalizing tone of the preceding verse.

[121:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 121. The psalm affirms that the Lord protects his people Israel. Unless the psalmist addresses an observer (note the second person singular forms in vv. 3-8), it appears there are two or three speakers represented in the psalm, depending on how one takes v. 3. The translation assumes that speaker one talks in vv. 1-2, that speaker two responds to him with a prayer in v. 3 (this assumes the verbs are true jussives of prayer), and that speaker three responds with words of assurance in vv. 4-8. If the verbs in v. 3 are taken as a rhetorical use of the jussive, then there are two speakers. Verses 3-8 are speaker two’s response to the words of speaker one. See the note on the word “sleep” at the end of v. 3.

[121:1]  ⁸ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[121:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[121:1]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (me’ayin) is interrogative, not relative, in function. Rather than directly stating that his source of help descends from the hills, the psalmist is asking, “From where does my help come?” Nevertheless, the first line does indicate that he is looking toward the hills for help, probably indicating that he is looking up toward the sky in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.

[121:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my help [is] from with the Lord.”

[121:2]  ¹² tn Or “Maker.”

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ¹⁴ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[45:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[63:1]  ¹⁹ sn Edom is here an archetype for the Lord’s enemies. See 34:5.

[63:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[in] bright red garments, from Bozrah.”

[63:1]  ²¹ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the first line of the verse.

[63:1]  ²² tn Heb “honored in his clothing”; KJV, ASV “glorious in his apparel.”

[63:1]  ²³ tc The Hebrew text has צָעָה (tsa’ah), which means “stoop, bend” (51:14). The translation assumes an emendation to צָעַד (tsa’ad, “march”; see BDB 858 s.v. צָעָה).

[63:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I, [the one] speaking in vindication [or “righteousness”], great to deliver.”

[63:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “our protector [or “redeemer”] from antiquity [is] your name.”

[1:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “house”; cf. NCV, TEV, NLT “the people of Judah.”

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn The word order in this line is rhetorical, emphasizing the divine decision to withhold pity from Israel but to bestow it on Judah. The accusative direct object, which is introduced by a disjunctive vav (to denote contrast), appears before the verb: וְאֶת־בֵּית יְהוּדָה אֲרַחֵם (vé’et-bet yéhudah ’arakhem, “but upon the house of Judah I will show pity”).

[1:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by war” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); KJV, NASB, NIV “battle.”

[1:7]  ²⁹ sn These military weapons are examples of the metonymy of adjunct (the specific weapons named) for subject (warfare).

[4:22]  ³⁰ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “worship” is second person plural and thus refers to more than the woman alone.

[4:22]  ³¹ tn Or “from the Judeans.” See the note on “Jew” in v. 9.