Psalms 18:2

Context

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

My God is my rocky summit where³ I take shelter,⁴

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

Psalms 42:9

Context

42:9 I will pray⁷ to God, my high ridge:⁸

“Why do you ignore⁹ me?

Why must I walk around mourning¹⁰

because my enemies oppress me?”

Isaiah 26:4

Context

26:4 Trust in the Lord from this time forward,¹¹

even in Yah, the Lord, an enduring protector!¹²

[18:2] ¹sn 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] ²sn 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] ³tn Or “in whom.”

[18:2] ⁴sn 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] ⁵tn Heb “the horn of my salvation”; or “my saving horn.”

[18:2] ⁶tn 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.”

[42:9] ⁷tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9] ⁸tn 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; Pss 18:2; 31:3.

[42:9] ⁹tn Or “forget.”

[42:9] ¹⁰sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[26:4] ¹¹tn Or “forevermore.” For other uses of the phrase עֲדֵי־עַד (’ade-’ad) see Isa 65:18 and Pss 83:17; 92:7.

[26:4] ¹²tc 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.