Psalms 18:30

18:30 The one true God acts in a faithful manner; ¹ 

the Lord’s promise ²  is reliable; ³ 

he is a shield to all who take shelter ⁴  in him.

Psalms 18:35

18:35 You give me your protective shield; ⁵ 

your right hand supports me; ⁶ 

your willingness to help ⁷  enables me to prevail. ⁸ 

Psalms 28:7

28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; ⁹ 

I trust in him with all my heart. ¹⁰ 

I am rescued ¹¹  and my heart is full of joy; ¹² 

I will sing to him in gratitude. ¹³ 

Psalms 59:11

59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,

because then my people might forget the lesson. ¹⁴ 

Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,

O Lord who shields us! ¹⁵ 

Psalms 76:3

76:3 There he shattered the arrows, ¹⁶ 

the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. ¹⁷  (Selah)

Psalms 144:2

144:2 who loves me ¹⁸  and is my stronghold,

my refuge ¹⁹  and my deliverer,

my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,

who makes nations submit to me. ²⁰ 

[18:30]  ¹ tn Heb “[As for] the God, his way is blameless.” The term הָאֵל (ha’el, “the God”) stands as a nominative (or genitive) absolute in apposition to the resumptive pronominal suffix on “way.” The prefixed article emphasizes his distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). God’s “way” in this context refers to his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 103:7; 138:5; 145:17).

[18:30]  ² sn The Lord’s promise. In the ancient Near East kings would typically seek and receive oracles from their god(s) prior to battle. For examples, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 241-42.

[18:30]  ³ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is purified.” The Lord’s “word” probably refers here to his oracle(s) of victory delivered to the psalmist before the battle(s) described in the following context. See also Pss 12:5-7 and 138:2-3. David frequently received such oracles before going into battle (see 1 Sam 23:2, 4-5, 10-12; 30:8; 2 Sam 5:19). The Lord’s word of promise is absolutely reliable; it is compared to metal that has been refined in fire and cleansed of impurities. See Ps 12:6.

[18:30]  ⁴ sn Take shelter. See the note on the word “shelter” in v. 2.

[18:35]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”

[18:35]  ⁶ tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).

[18:35]  ⁷ tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”

[18:35]  ⁸ tn Heb “makes me great.”

[28:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Lord [is] my strength and my shield.”

[28:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”

[28:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “I am helped.”

[28:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and my heart exults.”

[28:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.

[59:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”

[59:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”

[76:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.

[76:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.

[144:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).

[144:2]  ²² tn Or “my elevated place.”

[144:2]  ²³ tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”