Psalms 28:1

Psalm 28 ¹ 

By David.

28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!

My protector, ²  do not ignore me! ³ 

If you do not respond to me, ⁴ 

I will join ⁵  those who are descending into the grave. ⁶ 

Psalms 62:2

62:2 He alone is my protector ⁷  and deliverer.

He is my refuge; ⁸  I will not be upended. ⁹ 

Psalms 62:7

62:7 God delivers me and exalts me;

God is my strong protector and my shelter. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 32:2

32:2 Each of them ¹¹  will be like a shelter from the wind

and a refuge from a rainstorm;

like streams of water in a dry region

and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.

[28:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.

[28:1]  ² tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[28:1]  ³ tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”

[28:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”

[28:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[28:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[62:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”

[62:2]  ⁸ tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[62:2]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) at the end of the line. It is unusual for this adverb to follow a negated verb. Some see this as qualifying the assertion to some degree, but this would water down the affirmation too much (see v. 6b, where the adverb is omitted). If the adverb has a qualifying function, it would suggest that the psalmist might be upended, though not severely. This is inconsistent with the confident mood of the psalm. The adverb probably has an emphatic force here, “I will not be greatly upended” meaning “I will not be annihilated.”

[62:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”

[32:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.