Psalms 144:5-8

144:5 O Lord, make the sky sink ¹  and come down! ² 

Touch the mountains and make them smolder! ³ 

144:6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them!

Shoot your arrows and rout them! ⁴ 

144:7 Reach down ⁵  from above!

Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, ⁶ 

from the power of foreigners, ⁷ 

144:8 who speak lies,

and make false promises. ⁸ 

[144:5]  ¹ 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 Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as he descends in the storm. See Ps 18:9.

[144:5]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “so they might smolder.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative.

[144:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”

[144:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”

[144:8]  ⁸ 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).