Psalms 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ¹  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ² 

Psalms 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ³ 

The Lord bestows favor ⁴  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ⁵ 

Psalms 93:1

Psalm 93 ⁶ 

93:1 The Lord reigns!

He is robed in majesty,

the Lord is robed,

he wears strength around his waist. ⁷ 

Indeed, the world is established, it cannot be moved.

Psalms 102:1

Psalm 102 ⁸ 

The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.

102:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!

Pay attention to my cry for help! ⁹ 

Psalms 142:1

Psalm 142 ¹⁰ 

A well-written song ¹¹  by David, when he was in the cave; ¹²  a prayer.

142:1 To the Lord I cry out; ¹³ 

to the Lord I plead for mercy. ¹⁴ 

[31:23]  ¹ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ² tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[84:11]  ³ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ⁴ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[93:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 93. The psalmist affirms that the Lord is the king of the universe who preserves order and suppresses the destructive forces in the world.

[93:1]  ⁶ sn Strength is compared here to a belt that one wears for support. The Lord’s power undergirds his rule.

[102:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.

[102:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”

[142:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 142. The psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

[142:1]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[142:1]  ¹¹ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57.

[142:1]  ¹² tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I cry out.”

[142:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “[with] my voice to the Lord I plead for mercy.”