Discovery BoxPsalms 144:1-8
ContextBy David.
144:1 The Lord, my protector, 2 deserves praise 3 –
the one who trains my hands for battle, 4
and my fingers for war,
144:2 who loves me 5 and is my stronghold,
my refuge 6 and my deliverer,
my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,
who makes nations submit to me. 7
144:3 O Lord, of what importance is the human race, 8 that you should notice them?
Of what importance is mankind, 9 that you should be concerned about them? 10
144:4 People 11 are like a vapor,
their days like a shadow that disappears. 12
144:5 O Lord, make the sky sink 13 and come down! 14
Touch the mountains and make them smolder! 15
144:6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them!
Shoot your arrows and rout them! 16
144:7 Reach down 17 from above!
Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, 18
from the power of foreigners, 19
144:8 who speak lies,
and make false promises. 20
[144:1] 1 sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.
[144:1] 2 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The
[144:1] 3 tn Heb “blessed [be] the
[144:1] 4 sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.
[144:2] 5 tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).
[144:2] 6 tn Or “my elevated place.”
[144:2] 7 tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”
[144:3] 8 tn Heb “What is mankind?” The singular noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race. See Ps 8:5.
[144:3] 9 tn Heb “and the son of man.” The phrase “son of man” is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12.
[144:3] 10 tn Heb “take account of him.” The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God’s characteristic activity.
[144:4] 11 tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”
[144:4] 12 tn Heb “his days [are] like a shadow that passes away,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
[144:5] 13 tn The Hebrew verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “to [cause to] bend; to [cause to] bow down.” For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the
[144:5] 14 tn Heb “so you might come down.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The same type of construction is utilized in v. 6.
[144:5] 15 tn Heb “so they might smolder.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative.
[144:6] 16 sn Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 18:14; 77:17-18; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art (see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” [Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983], 187).
[144:7] 17 tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”
[144:7] 18 tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful foreign enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see the next line and Ps 18:16-17).
[144:7] 19 tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”
[144:8] 20 tn Heb “who [with] their mouth speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” The reference to the “right hand” is probably a metonymy for an oath. When making an oath, one would raise the hand as a solemn gesture. See Exod 6:8; Num 14:30; Deut 32:40. The figure thus represents the making of false oaths (false promises).
