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 31:2

31:2 Listen to me! ⁷ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ⁸ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ⁹ 

Psalms 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ¹⁰ 

all day long they say to me, ¹¹  “Where is your God?”

Psalms 77:1

Psalm 77 ¹² 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.

77:1 I will cry out to God ¹³  and call for help!

I will cry out to God and he will pay attention ¹⁴  to me.

Psalms 102:2

102:2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble! ¹⁵ 

Listen to me! ¹⁶ 

When I call out to you, quickly answer me!

[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.”

[31:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[42:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[77:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.

[77:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.

[77:1]  ²¹ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).

[102:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble.” The idiom “to hide the face” can mean “to ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “to reject” (see Pss 29:7; 30:7; 88:14).

[102:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”