Psalms 18:17

18:17 He rescued me from my strong enemy, ¹ 

from those who hate me,

for they were too strong for me.

Psalms 33:16-17

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

33:17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; ² 

despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

Psalms 37:17

37:17 for evil men will lose their power, ³ 

but the Lord sustains ⁴  the godly.

Psalms 44:2

44:2 You, by your power, ⁵  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ⁶ 

you crushed ⁷  the people living there ⁸  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ⁹ 

Psalms 44:5

44:5 By your power ¹⁰  we will drive back ¹¹  our enemies;

by your strength ¹²  we will trample down ¹³  our foes! ¹⁴ 

Psalms 45:6

45:6 Your throne, ¹⁵  O God, is permanent. ¹⁶ 

The scepter ¹⁷  of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

Psalms 71:4

71:4 My God, rescue me from the power ¹⁸  of the wicked,

from the hand of the cruel oppressor!

Psalms 75:10

75:10 God says, ¹⁹ 

“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;

the godly will be victorious.” ²⁰ 

Psalms 89:24

89:24 He will experience my faithfulness and loyal love, ²¹ 

and by my name he will win victories. ²² 

Psalms 144:7

144:7 Reach down ²³  from above!

Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, ²⁴ 

from the power of foreigners, ²⁵ 

[18:17]  ¹ tn The singular refers either to personified death or collectively to the psalmist’s enemies. The following line, which refers to “those [plural] who hate me,” favors the latter.

[33:17]  ² tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”

[37:17]  ³ tn Heb “for the arms of the evil ones will be broken.”

[37:17]  ⁴ tn The active participle here indicates this is characteristically true.

[44:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ⁶ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ⁷ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.

[44:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “by you.”

[44:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “gore” (like an ox). If this portion of the psalm contains the song of confidence/petition the Israelites recited prior to battle, then the imperfects here and in the next line may express their expectation of victory. Another option is that the imperfects function in an emphatic generalizing manner. In this case one might translate, “you [always] drive back…you [always] trample down.”

[44:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “in your name.” The Lord’s “name” refers here to his revealed character or personal presence. Specifically in this context his ability to deliver, protect, and energize for battle is in view (see Ps 54:1).

[44:5]  ⁸ sn The image of the powerful wild ox continues; see the note on the phrase “drive back” in the preceding line.

[44:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who rise up [against] us.”

[45:6]  ⁶ sn The king’s throne here symbolizes his rule.

[45:6]  ⁷ tn Or “forever and ever.”

[45:6]  ⁸ sn The king’s scepter symbolizes his royal authority.

[71:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[75:10]  ⁸ tn The words “God says” are not in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation to clarify that God speaks in v. 10.

[75:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and all the horns of the wicked I will cut off, the horns of the godly will be lifted up.” The imagery of the wild ox’s horn is once more utilized (see vv. 4-5).

[89:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “and my faithfulness and my loyal love [will be] with him.”

[89:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and by my name his horn will be lifted up.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 92:10; Lam 2:17).

[144:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”

[144:7]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”