Psalms 24:8

24:8 Who is this majestic king? ¹ 

The Lord who is strong and mighty!

The Lord who is mighty in battle!

Psalms 76:3

76:3 There he shattered the arrows, ² 

the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. ³  (Selah)

Psalms 140:2

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ⁴ 

All day long they stir up conflict. ⁵ 

Psalms 144:1

Psalm 144 ⁶ 

By David.

144:1 The Lord, my protector, ⁷  deserves praise ⁸  –

the one who trains my hands for battle, ⁹ 

and my fingers for war,

[24:8]  ¹ sn Who is this majestic king? Perhaps the personified gates/doors ask this question, in response to the command given in v. 7.

[76:3]  ² tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.

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

[140:2]  ³ tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ⁴ tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.

[144:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.

[144:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[144:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord, my rocky summit.”

[144:1]  ⁷ sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.