Psalms 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands; ¹ 

I do not deviate from them. ² 

Psalms 17:8

17:8 Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! ³ 

Hide me in the shadow of your wings! ⁴ 

Psalms 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ⁵  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ⁶ 

Psalms 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes ⁷  justice,

and never abandons ⁸  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ⁹ 

but the children ¹⁰  of evil men are wiped out. ¹¹ 

Psalms 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects ¹²  the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power ¹³  of the wicked.

Psalms 116:6

116:6 The Lord protects ¹⁴  the untrained; ¹⁵ 

I was in serious trouble ¹⁶  and he delivered me.

Proverbs 2:8

2:8 to guard ¹⁷  the paths of the righteous ¹⁸ 

and to protect ¹⁹  the way of his pious ones. ²⁰ 

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

[17:5]  ² tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

[17:8]  ³ tc Heb “Protect me like the pupil, a daughter of an eye.” The noun בַּת (bat, “daughter”) should probably be emended to בָּבַת (bavat, “pupil”). See Zech 2:12 HT (2:8 ET) and HALOT 107 s.v. *בָּבָה.

[17:8]  ⁴ sn Your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.

[31:23]  ⁵ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ⁶ tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[37:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ⁹ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ¹⁰ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ¹¹ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

[97:10]  ⁹ tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

[97:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[116:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.

[116:6]  ¹² tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.

[116:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “I was low.”

[2:8]  ¹³ tn The infinitive construct לִנְצֹר (lintsor, “to guard”) designates the purpose of the Lord giving “effective counsel” and being a “shield” to the upright. The verb נָצַר (natsar, “to guard”) has a broad range of meanings: (1) to watch over, guard or protect a vineyard from theft (Prov 27:18); (2) to guard one’s lips or heart from evil (Prov 4:23; 13:3); (3) to protect a person from moral or physical danger (Prov 2:8, 11; 4:6; 13:6; 20:28; 22:12; 24:12) and (4) to guard with fidelity = to observe commands, law or covenant (Prov 3:1, 21; 4:13; 5:2; 6:20; 28:7; see BDB 665-66 s.v.). Here God guards the way of the just, that is, the course and conduct of life from the influence of evil.

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “paths of righteousness.” The word “righteousness” is a possessive genitive, signifying the ways that the righteous take.

[2:8]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect tense verb יִשְׁמֹר (yishmor, “to protect”) continues the syntactical nuance of the preceding infinitive construct of purpose.

[2:8]  ¹⁶ tc The Kethib is the singular noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix חֲסִידוֹ (khasido) “his pious one.” The Qere reads the plural noun + 3rd person masculine singular suffix חֲסִידָיו (khasidav) “his pious ones.” The LXX εὐλαβουμένων αὐτόν (eujlaboumenwn aujton) supports the Qere reading.