Psalms 27:2-3

Context

27:2 When evil men attack me¹

to devour my flesh,²

when my adversaries and enemies attack me,³

they stumble and fall.⁴

27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,

I do not fear.⁵

Even when war is imminent,⁶

I remain confident.⁷

[27:2] ¹tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2] ²sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2] ³tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2] ⁴tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[27:3] ⁵tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”

[27:3] ⁶tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”

[27:3] ⁷tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”