Psalms 45:3

45:3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior! ¹ 

Appear in your majestic splendor! ² 

Psalms 149:5-9

149:5 Let the godly rejoice because of their vindication! ³ 

Let them shout for joy upon their beds! ⁴ 

149:6 May they praise God

while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, ⁵ 

149:7 in order to take ⁶  revenge on the nations,

and punish foreigners.

149:8 They bind ⁷  their kings in chains,

and their nobles in iron shackles,

149:9 and execute the judgment to which their enemies ⁸  have been sentenced. ⁹ 

All his loyal followers will be vindicated. ¹⁰ 

Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 27:3

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it; ¹¹ 

I water it regularly. ¹² 

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it. ¹³ 

Ephesians 6:16-18

6:16 and in all of this, ¹⁴  by taking up the shield ¹⁵  of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation ¹⁶  and the sword ¹⁷  of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ¹⁸  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ¹⁹  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

[45:3]  ¹ tn Or “mighty one.”

[45:3]  ² tn The Hebrew text has simply, “your majesty and your splendor,” which probably refers to the king’s majestic splendor when he appears in full royal battle regalia.

[149:5]  ³ tn Heb “in glory.” Here “glory” probably refers to the “honor” that belongs to the Lord’s people as a result of their deliverance (see v. 4).

[149:5]  ⁴ tn The significance of the reference to “beds” is unclear. Perhaps the point is that they should rejoice at all times, even when falling asleep or awaking.

[149:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “[May] praises of God [be] in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”

[149:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “to do.”

[149:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “to bind.”

[149:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the enemies of the people of God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[149:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “to do against them judgment [that] is written.”

[149:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it is honor for all his godly ones.” The judgment of the oppressive kings will bring vindication and honor to God’s people (see vv. 4-5).

[27:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “her.” Apparently “vineyard” is the antecedent, though normally this noun is understood as masculine (see Lev 25:3, however).

[27:3]  ¹² tn Or perhaps, “constantly.” Heb “by moments.”

[27:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “lest [someone] visit [harm] upon it, night and day I guard it.”

[6:16]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in everything.”

[6:16]  ¹⁵ sn The Greek word translated shield (θυρεός, qureos) refers to the Roman soldier’s large rectangular wooden shield, called in Latin scutum, about 4 ft (1.2 m) high, covered with leather on the outside. Before a battle in which flaming arrows might be shot at them, the soldiers wet the leather covering with water to extinguish the arrows. The Roman legionaries could close ranks with these shields, the first row holding theirs edge to edge in front, and the rows behind holding the shields above their heads. In this formation they were practically invulnerable to arrows, rocks, and even spears.

[6:17]  ¹⁶ sn An allusion to Isa 59:17.

[6:17]  ¹⁷ sn The Greek term translated sword (μάχαιρα, macaira) refers to the Roman gladius, a short sword about 2 ft (60 cm) long, used for close hand-to-hand combat. This is the only clearly offensive weapon in the list of armor mentioned by the author (he does not, for example, mention the lance [Latin pilum]).

[6:18]  ¹⁸ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and toward it.”