Job 29:20

29:20 My glory ¹  will always be fresh ²  in me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.’

Psalms 18:32-35

18:32 The one true God ³  gives ⁴  me strength; ⁵ 

he removes ⁶  the obstacles in my way. ⁷ 

18:33 He gives me the agility of a deer; ⁸ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ⁹ 

18:34 He trains my hands for battle; ¹⁰ 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ¹¹ 

18:35 You give me your protective shield; ¹² 

your right hand supports me; ¹³ 

your willingness to help ¹⁴  enables me to prevail. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 37:14-15

37:14 Evil men draw their swords

and prepare their bows,

to bring down ¹⁶  the oppressed and needy,

and to slaughter those who are godly. ¹⁷ 

37:15 Their swords will pierce ¹⁸  their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

Psalms 44:7

44:7 For you deliver ¹⁹  us from our enemies;

you humiliate ²⁰  those who hate us.

Zechariah 10:12

10:12 Thus I will strengthen them by my power, ²¹  and they will walk about ²²  in my name,” says the Lord.

Romans 14:4

14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord ²³  is able to make him stand.

[29:20]  ¹ tn The word is “my glory,” meaning his high respect and his honor. Hoffmann proposed to read כִּידוֹן (kidon) instead, meaning “javelin” (as in 1 Sam 17:6), to match the parallelism (RQ 3 [1961/62]: 388). But the parallelism does not need to be so tight.

[29:20]  ² tn Heb “new.”

[18:32]  ³ tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the Lord’s distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). See v. 30.

[18:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.

[18:32]  ⁵ tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”

[18:32]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.

[18:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[18:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “[the one who] makes my feet like [those of ] a deer.”

[18:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “and on my high places he makes me walk.” The imperfect verbal form emphasizes God’s characteristic provision. The psalmist compares his agility in battle to the ability of a deer to negotiate rugged, high terrain without falling or being injured.

[18:34]  ¹⁰ sn He trains my hands. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[18:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms”; or “my arms bend a bow of bronze.” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) apparently means “pull back, bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The third feminine singular verbal form appears to agree with the feminine singular noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”). In this case the verb must be taken as Niphal (passive). However, it is possible that “my arms” is the subject of the verb and “bow” the object. In this case the verb is Piel (active). For other examples of a feminine singular verb being construed with a plural noun, see GKC 464 §145.k.

[18:35]  ¹² tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”

[18:35]  ¹³ tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).

[18:35]  ¹⁴ tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”

[18:35]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “makes me great.”

[37:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to cause to fall.”

[37:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.

[37:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “enter into.”

[44:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “have delivered,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).

[44:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “have humiliated,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).

[10:12]  ²¹ tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” Because of the perceived problem of the Lord saying he will strengthen the people “in the Lord,” both BHK and BHS suggest emending גִּבַּרְתִּים (gibbartim, “I will strengthen them”) to גְּבֻרָתָם (gevuratam, “their strength”). This is unnecessary, however, for the Lord frequently refers to himself in that manner (see Zech 2:11).

[10:12]  ²² tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.

[14:4]  ²³ tc Most mss, especially Western and Byzantine (D F G 048 33 1739 1881 Ï latt), read θεός (qeos, “God”) in place of κύριος (kurios, “Lord”) here. However, κύριος is found in many of the most important mss (Ì⁴⁶ א A B C P Ψ pc co), and θεός looks to be an assimilation to θεός in v. 3.