Psalms 91:3-9

91:3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter ¹ 

and from the destructive plague.

91:4 He will shelter you ²  with his wings; ³ 

you will find safety under his wings.

His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. ⁴ 

91:5 You need not fear the terrors of the night, ⁵ 

the arrow that flies by day,

91:6 the plague that comes in the darkness,

or the disease that comes at noon. ⁶ 

91:7 Though a thousand may fall beside you,

and a multitude on your right side,

it ⁷  will not reach you.

91:8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes –

you will see the wicked paid back. ⁸ 

91:9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,

my shelter, the sovereign One. ⁹ 

Mark 16:18

16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; ¹⁰  they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”

Acts 28:5

28:5 However, ¹¹  Paul ¹²  shook ¹³  the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

Acts 28:1

Paul on Malta

28:1 After we had safely reached shore, ¹⁴  we learned that the island was called Malta. ¹⁵ 

Acts 3:13

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ¹⁶  the God of our forefathers, ¹⁷  has glorified ¹⁸  his servant ¹⁹  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ²⁰  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ²¹  to release him.

[91:3]  ¹ tn The word refers specifically to a fowler (or hunter of birds).

[91:4]  ² tn Heb “put a cover over you” (see Ps 5:11).

[91:4]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.”

[91:5]  ⁵ tn This probably alludes to a sneak attack by enemies in the darkness of night (see Song 3:8).

[91:6]  ⁶ sn As in Deut 32:23-24, vv. 5-6 closely associate military attack and deadly disease. Perhaps the latter alludes to one of the effects of siege warfare on the population of an entrapped city, which was especially vulnerable to the outbreak of epidemics.

[91:7]  ⁷ tn Apparently the deadly disease mentioned in v. 6b is the understood subject here.

[91:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “retribution on the wicked.”

[91:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “for you, the Lord, my shelter, the Most High, you have made your dwelling place.”

[16:18]  ¹⁰ tn For further comment on the nature of this statement, whether it is a promise or prediction, see ExSyn 403-6.

[28:5]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 737 s.v. οὖν 4 indicates the particle has an adversative sense here: “but, however.”

[28:5]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:5]  ¹³ tn Grk “shaking the creature off…he suffered no harm.” The participle ἀποτινάξας (apotinaxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[28:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “We having been brought safely through” [to land] (same verb as 27:44). The word “shore” is implied, and the slight variations in translation from 27:44 have been made to avoid redundancy in English. The participle διασωθέντες (diaswqente") has been taken temporally.

[28:1]  ¹⁵ sn Malta is an island (known by the same name today) in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily. The ship had traveled 625 mi (1,000 km) in the storm.

[3:13]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ The repetition of ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) before the names of Isaac and Jacob is found in Ì⁷⁴ א C (A D without article) 36 104 1175 pc lat. The omission of the second and third ὁ θεός is supported by B E Ψ 33 1739 Ï pc. The other time that Exod 3:6 is quoted in Acts (7:32) the best witnesses also lack the repeated ὁ θεός, but the three other times this OT passage is quoted in the NT the full form, with the thrice-mentioned θεός, is used (Matt 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Scribes would be prone to conform the wording here to the LXX; the longer reading is thus most likely not authentic. NA²⁷ has the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[3:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

[3:13]  ¹⁸ sn Has glorified. Jesus is alive, raised and active, as the healing illustrates so dramatically how God honors him.

[3:13]  ¹⁹ sn His servant. The term servant has messianic connotations given the context of the promise, the note of suffering, and the titles and functions noted in vv. 14-15.

[3:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

[3:13]  ²¹ tn This genitive absolute construction could be understood as temporal (“when he had decided”) or concessive (“although he had decided”).