Psalms 33:16

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

Psalms 76:5

76:5 The bravehearted ¹  were plundered; ² 

they “fell asleep.” ³ 

All the warriors were helpless. ⁴ 

Psalms 84:7

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along; ⁵ 

each one appears ⁶  before God in Zion.

Psalms 118:15

118:15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly. ⁷ 

The Lord’s right hand conquers, ⁸ 

[76:5]  ¹ tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).

[76:5]  ² tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).

[76:5]  ³ tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”

[76:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”

[84:7]  ¹ tn Heb “they go from strength to strength.” The phrase “from strength to strength” occurs only here in the OT. With a verb of motion, the expression “from [common noun] to [same common noun]” normally suggests movement from one point to another or through successive points (see Num 36:7; 1 Chr 16:20; 17:5; Ps 105:13; Jer 25:32). Ps 84:7 may be emphasizing that the pilgrims move successively from one “place of strength” to another as they travel toward Jerusalem. All along the way they find adequate provisions and renewed energy for the trip.

[84:7]  ² tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one” ) sense.

[118:15]  ¹ tn Heb “the sound of a ringing shout and deliverance [is] in the tents of the godly.”

[118:15]  ² tn Heb “does valiantly.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 60:12; 108:13).