Psalms 18:34

18:34 He trains my hands for battle; ¹ 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ² 

Psalms 44:3-4

44:3 For they did not conquer ³  the land by their swords,

and they did not prevail by their strength, ⁴ 

but rather by your power, ⁵  strength ⁶  and good favor, ⁷ 

for you were partial to ⁸  them.

44:4 You are my ⁹  king, O God!

Decree ¹⁰  Jacob’s ¹¹  deliverance!

Psalms 60:12

60:12 By God’s power we will conquer; ¹² 

he will trample down ¹³  our enemies.

Psalms 60:2

60:2 You made the earth quake; you split it open. ¹⁴ 

Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 22:1-2

Psalm 22 ¹⁶ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ¹⁷  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ¹⁸ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ¹⁹ 

22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,

but you do not answer,

and during the night my prayers do not let up. ²⁰ 

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ²¹  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

Ephesians 6:10-11

Exhortations for Spiritual Warfare

6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 6:11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes ²²  of the devil.

[18:34]  ¹ sn He trains my hands. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[18:34]  ² tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms”; or “my arms bend a bow of bronze.” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) apparently means “pull back, bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The third feminine singular verbal form appears to agree with the feminine singular noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”). In this case the verb must be taken as Niphal (passive). However, it is possible that “my arms” is the subject of the verb and “bow” the object. In this case the verb is Piel (active). For other examples of a feminine singular verb being construed with a plural noun, see GKC 464 §145.k.

[44:3]  ³ tn Or “take possession of.”

[44:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.

[44:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver (see Pss 17:7; 20:6; 21:8).

[44:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “your arm.”

[44:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[44:3]  ⁸ tn Or “favorable toward.”

[44:4]  ⁹ sn The speaker changes here to an individual, perhaps the worship leader or the king. The oscillation between singular (vv. 4, 6) and plural (vv. 1-3, 5, 7-8) in vv. 1-8 may reflect an antiphonal ceremony.

[44:4]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX assumes a participle here (מְצַוֶּה [mÿtsavveh], “the one who commands/decrees”) which would stand in apposition to “my God.” It is possible that the MT, which has the imperative (צַוֵּה, tsavveh) form, has suffered haplography of the letter mem (ם). Note that the preceding word (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) ends in mem. Another option is that the MT is divided in the wrong place; perhaps one could move the final mem from אֱלֹהִים to the beginning of the next word and read מְצַוֶּה אֱלֹהָי (’elohay mÿtsavveh, “[You are my king,] my God, the one who decrees”).

[44:4]  ¹¹ tn That is, Israel. See Pss 14:7; 22:23.

[60:12]  ¹² tn Heb “in God we will accomplish strength.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 108:13; 118:15-16).

[60:12]  ¹³ sn Trample down. On this expression see Ps 44:5.

[60:2]  ¹⁴ tn The verb פָּצַם (patsam, “split open”) occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “crack,” and an Aramaic cognate is used in Tg. Jer 22:14 with the meaning “break open, frame.” See BDB 822 s.v. and Jastrow 1205 s.v. פְּצַם.

[60:2]  ¹⁵ sn It is ready to fall. The earth is compared to a wall that has been broken by the force of the earthquake (note the preceding line) and is ready to collapse.

[22:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ¹⁸ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[22:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”

[1:4]  ²¹ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).

[6:11]  ²² tn Or “craftiness.” See BDAG 625 s.v. μεθοδεία.