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 

Exodus 15:2-6

15:2 The Lord ⁷  is my strength and my song, ⁸ 

and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him, ⁹ 

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

15:3 The Lord is a warrior, ¹⁰ 

the Lord is his name. ¹¹ 

15:4 The chariots of Pharaoh ¹²  and his army he has thrown into the sea,

and his chosen ¹³  officers were drowned ¹⁴  in the Red Sea.

15:5 The depths have covered them, ¹⁵ 

they went down to the bottom ¹⁶  like a stone.

15:6 Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic ¹⁷  in power,

your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.

Isaiah 12:2

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ¹⁸ 

I will trust in him ¹⁹  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ²⁰ 

he has become my deliverer.” ²¹ 

Isaiah 45:17

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ²² 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ²³ 

Isaiah 45:22-25

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ²⁴ 

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

45:23 I solemnly make this oath ²⁵  –

what I say is true and reliable: ²⁶ 

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm; ²⁷ 

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ²⁸ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ²⁹ 

45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him. ³⁰ 

Matthew 1:21-23

1:21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him ³¹  Jesus, ³²  because he will save his people from their sins.” 1:22 This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ³³  Emmanuel,” ³⁴  which means ³⁵  “God with us.” ³⁶ 

[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.”

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Yah.” Moses’ poem here uses a short form of the name Yahweh, traditionally rendered in English by “the LORD.”

[15:2]  ⁸ tn The word וְזִמְרָת (vÿzimrat) is problematic. It probably had a suffix yod (י) that was accidentally dropped because of the yod (י) on the divine name following. Most scholars posit another meaning for the word. A meaning of “power” fits the line fairly well, forming a hendiadys with strength – “strength and power” becoming “strong power.” Similar lines are in Isa 12:2 and Ps 118:14. Others suggest “protection” or “glory.” However, there is nothing substantially wrong with “my song” in the line – only that it would be a nicer match if it had something to do with strength.

[15:2]  ⁹ tn The word נָוָה (navah) occurs only here. It may mean “beautify, adorn” with praises (see BDB 627 s.v.). See also M. Dahood, “Exodus 15:2: ‘anwehu and Ugaritic snwt,” Bib 59 (1979): 260-61; and M. Klein, “The Targumic Tosefta to Exodus 15:2,” JJS 26 (1975): 61-67; and S. B. Parker, “Exodus 15:2 Again,” VT 21 (1971): 373-79.

[15:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “man of war” (so KJV, ASV). “Warrior” is now the preferred translation since “man of war” is more commonly known today as a warship. The expression indicates that Yahweh is one who understands how to fight and defeat the enemy. The word “war” modifies “man” to reveal that Yahweh is a warrior. Other passages use similar descriptions: Isa 42:13 has “man of wars”; Ps 24:8 has “mighty man of battle.” See F. Cross, “The Divine Warrior in Israel’s Early Cult,” Biblical Motifs, 11-30.

[15:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Yahweh is his name.” As throughout, the name “Yahweh” is rendered as “the Lord” in the translation, as is typically done in English translations.

[15:4]  ¹² tn Gesenius notes that the sign of the accusative, often omitted in poetry, is not found in this entire song (GKC 363 §117.b).

[15:4]  ¹³ tn The word is a substantive, “choice, selection”; it is here used in the construct state to convey an attribute before a partitive genitive – “the choice of his officers” means his “choice officers” (see GKC 417 §128.r).

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tn The form is a Qal passive rather than a Pual, for there is not Piel form or meaning.

[15:5]  ¹⁵ tn The verb form is יְכַסְיֻמוּ (yÿkhasyumu) is the Piel preterite. Normally a vav (ו) consecutive is used with the preterite, but in some ancient poems the form without the vav appears, as is the case frequently in this poem. That such an archaic form is used should come as no surprise, because the word also uses the yod (י) of the root (GKC 214 §75.dd), and the archaic suffix form (GKC 258 §91.l). These all indicate the antiquity of the poem.

[15:5]  ¹⁶ tn The parasynonyms here are תְּהֹמֹת (tÿhomot, “deep, ocean depths, deep waters”) and מְצוֹלֹת (mÿtsolot, “the depths”); S. R. Driver says properly the “gurgling places” (Exodus, 134).

[15:6]  ¹⁷ tn The form נֶאְדָּרִי (ne’dari) may be an archaic infinitive with the old ending i, used in place of the verb and meaning “awesome.” Gesenius says that the vowel ending may be an old case ending, especially when a preposition is inserted between the word and its genitive (GKC 253 §90.l), but he suggests a reconstruction of the form.

[12:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ²⁰ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ²¹ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[45:17]  ²² tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ²³ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[45:22]  ²⁴ tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”

[45:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

[45:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

[45:23]  ²⁷ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

[45:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[45:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”

[1:21]  ³¹ tn Grk “you will call his name.”

[1:21]  ³² sn The Greek form of the name Ihsous, which was translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” (Yahweh is typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). It was a fairly common name among Jews in 1st century Palestine, as references to a number of people by this name in the LXX and Josephus indicate.

[1:23]  ³³ tn Grk “they will call his name.”

[1:23]  ³⁴ sn A quotation from Isa 7:14.

[1:23]  ³⁵ tn Grk “is translated.”

[1:23]  ³⁶ sn An allusion to Isa 8:8, 10 (LXX).