Discovery BoxPsalms 3:7-8
ContextDeliver me, my God!
Yes, 2 you will strike 3 all my enemies on the jaw;
you will break the teeth 4 of the wicked. 5
you show favor to your people. 7 (Selah)
Psalms 18:31-40
Context18:31 Indeed, 8 who is God besides the Lord?
Who is a protector 9 besides our God? 10
18:32 The one true God 11 gives 12 me strength; 13
he removes 14 the obstacles in my way. 15
18:33 He gives me the agility of a deer; 16
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. 17
18:34 He trains my hands for battle; 18
my arms can bend even the strongest bow. 19
18:35 You give me your protective shield; 20
your right hand supports me; 21
your willingness to help 22 enables me to prevail. 23
my feet 25 do not slip.
18:37 I chase my enemies and catch 26 them;
I do not turn back until I wipe them out.
18:38 I beat them 27 to death; 28
they fall at my feet. 29
18:39 You give me strength 30 for battle;
you make my foes kneel before me. 31
18:40 You make my enemies retreat; 32
I destroy those who hate me. 33
[3:7] 1 tn In v. 2 the psalmist describes his enemies as those who “confront” him (קָמִים [qamim], literally, “rise up against him”). Now, using the same verbal root (קוּם, qum) he asks the
[3:7] 2 tn Elsewhere in the psalms the particle כִּי (ki), when collocated with a perfect verbal form and subordinated to a preceding imperative directed to God, almost always has an explanatory or causal force (“for, because”) and introduces a motivating argument for why God should respond positively to the request (see Pss 5:10; 6:2; 12:1; 16:1; 41:4; 55:9; 56:1; 57:1; 60:2; 69:1; 74:20; 119:94; 123:3; 142:6; 143:8). (On three occasions the כִּי is recitative after a verb of perception [“see/know that,” see Pss 4:3; 25:19; 119:159]). If כִּי is taken as explanatory here, then the psalmist is arguing that God should deliver him now because that is what God characteristically does. However, such a motivating argument is not used in the passages cited above. The motivating argument usually focuses on the nature of the psalmist’s dilemma or the fact that he trusts in the Lord. For this reason it is unlikely that כִּי has its normal force here. Most scholars understand the particle כִּי as having an asseverative (emphasizing) function here (“indeed, yes”; NEB leaves the particle untranslated).
[3:7] 3 tn If the particle כִּי (ki) is taken as explanatory, then the perfect verbal forms in v. 7b would describe God’s characteristic behavior. However, as pointed out in the preceding note on the word “yes,” the particle probably has an asseverative force here. If so, the perfects may be taken as indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s assault on his enemies as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm, as expressed before (vv. 3-6) and after this (v. 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“Strike all my enemies on the jaw, break the teeth of the wicked”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
[3:7] 4 sn The expression break the teeth may envision violent hand-to hand combat, though it is possible that the enemies are pictured here as a dangerous animal (see Job 29:17).
[3:7] 5 tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.
[3:8] 6 tn Heb “to the
[3:8] 7 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).
[18:31] 12 tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of divine protection. See v. 2, where the Hebrew term צוּר (tsur) is translated “rocky summit.”
[18:31] 13 tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the
[18:32] 16 tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the
[18:32] 17 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] 18 tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”
[18:32] 19 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.
[18:32] 20 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] 21 tn Heb “[the one who] makes my feet like [those of ] a deer.”
[18:33] 22 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] 26 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] 27 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] 31 tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”
[18:35] 32 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] 33 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] 34 tn Heb “makes me great.”
[18:36] 36 tn Heb “you make wide my step under me.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives the psalmist the capacity to run quickly.
[18:36] 37 tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”
[18:37] 41 tn 2 Sam 22:38 reads “destroy.”
[18:38] 46 tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”
[18:38] 47 tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”
[18:38] 48 sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.
[18:39] 51 tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.
[18:39] 52 tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”
[18:40] 56 tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.
[18:40] 57 sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the
