Psalms 18:2

18:2 The Lord is my high ridge, ¹  my stronghold, ²  my deliverer.

My God is my rocky summit where ³  I take shelter, ⁴ 

my shield, the horn that saves me, ⁵  and my refuge. ⁶ 

Psalms 18:31

18:31 Indeed, ⁷  who is God besides the Lord?

Who is a protector ⁸  besides our God? ⁹ 

Psalms 71:3

71:3 Be my protector and refuge, ¹⁰ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ¹¹ 

For you are my high ridge ¹²  and my stronghold.

Psalms 95:1

Psalm 95 ¹³ 

95:1 Come! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord!

Let’s shout out praises to our protector who delivers us! ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 32:30-31

32:30 How can one man chase a thousand of them, ¹⁵ 

and two pursue ten thousand;

unless their Rock had delivered them up, ¹⁶ 

and the Lord had handed them over?

32:31 For our enemies’ ¹⁷  rock is not like our Rock,

as even our enemies concede.

Isaiah 26:4

26:4 Trust in the Lord from this time forward, ¹⁸ 

even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector! ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 45:24

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ²⁰ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ²¹ 

[18:2]  ¹ sn My high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[18:2]  ² sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.

[18:2]  ³ tn Or “in whom.”

[18:2]  ⁴ sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[18:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “the horn of my salvation”; or “my saving horn.”

[18:2]  ⁶ tn Or “my elevated place.” The parallel version of this psalm in 2 Sam 22:3 adds at this point, “my refuge, my savior, [you who] save me from violence.”

[18:31]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”

[18:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of divine protection. See v. 2, where the Hebrew term צוּר (tsur) is translated “rocky summit.”

[18:31]  ⁹ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the Lord is the only true God and reliable source of protection. See also Deut 32:39, where the Lord affirms that he is the only true God. Note as well the emphasis on his role as protector (Heb “rocky cliff,” צוּר, tsur) in Deut 32:4, 15, 17-18, 30.

[71:3]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (ma’on, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (ma’oz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ¹¹ tc Heb “to enter continually, you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavo’ tamid tsivvita, “to enter continually, you commanded”) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (lÿvet mÿtsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ¹² sn You are my high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[95:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.

[95:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the rocky summit of our deliverance.”

[32:30]  ¹⁵ tn The words “man” and “of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sold them” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[32:31]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their,” but the referent (enemies) is specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[26:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “forevermore.” For other uses of the phrase עֲדֵי־עַד (’ade-’ad) see Isa 65:18 and Pss 83:17; 92:7.

[26:4]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text has “for in Yah, the Lord, an everlasting rock.” Some have suggested that the phrase בְּיָהּ (beyah, “in Yah”) is the result of dittography. A scribe seeing כִּי יְהוָה (ki yÿhvah) in his original text would somehow have confused the letters and accidentally inserted בְּיָהּ between the words (bet and kaf [ב and כ] can be confused in later script phases). A number of English versions retain both divine names for emphasis (ESV, NIV, NKJV, NRSV, NLT). One of the Qumran texts (1QIsa^a) confirms the MT reading as well.

[45:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”