Psalms 57:1

Psalm 57 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. ⁴ 

57:1 Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me!

For in you I have taken shelter. ⁵ 

In the shadow of your wings ⁶  I take shelter

until trouble passes.

Psalms 83:3

83:3 They carefully plot ⁷  against your people,

and make plans to harm ⁸  the ones you cherish. ⁹ 

Psalms 119:114

119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield.

I find hope in your word.

Proverbs 18:10

18:10 The name of the Lord ¹⁰  is like ¹¹  a strong tower; ¹² 

the righteous person runs ¹³  to it and is set safely on high. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 4:5-6

4:5 Then the Lord will create

over all of Mount Zion ¹⁵ 

and over its convocations

a cloud and smoke by day

and a bright flame of fire by night; ¹⁶ 

indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence. ¹⁷ 

4:6 By day it will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat,

as well as safety and protection from the heavy downpour. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 26:20

26:20 Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms!

Close your doors behind you!

Hide for a little while,

until his angry judgment is over! ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 32:2

32:2 Each of them ²⁰  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.

Matthew 23:37

Judgment on Israel

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ²¹  you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! ²²  How often I have longed ²³  to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ²⁴  you would have none of it! ²⁵ 

Colossians 3:3

3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

[57:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 57. The psalmist asks for God’s protection and expresses his confidence that his ferocious enemies will be destroyed by their own schemes.

[57:1]  ² tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 58-59, 75.

[57:1]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56, 58-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[57:1]  ⁴ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when he fled from Saul and hid 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.

[57:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “my life has taken shelter.” The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[57:1]  ⁶ sn In the shadow of your wings. The metaphor likens God to a protective mother bird (see also Pss 17:8; 36:7).

[83:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”

[83:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and consult together against.”

[83:3]  ⁹ tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”

[18:10]  ¹⁰ sn The “name of the Lord” is a metonymy of subject. The “name” here signifies not the personal name “Yahweh,” for that would be redundant in the expression “the name of Yahweh,” but the attributes of the Lord (cf. Exod 34:5-7) – here his power to protect.

[18:10]  ¹¹ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[18:10]  ¹² tn Heb “a tower of strength,” with “strength” regarded as attributive by most English versions. The metaphor “strong tower” indicates that God is a secure refuge. The figure is qualified in the second colon.

[18:10]  ¹³ sn The metaphor of “running” to the Lord refers to a whole-hearted and unwavering trust in God’s protection (e.g., Isa 40:31).

[18:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “is high” or “is inaccessible.” This military-type expression stresses the effect of the trust – security, being out of danger (see HALOT 1305 s.v. שׂגב). Other scriptures will supply the ways that God actually protects people who trust him.

[4:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”

[4:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.

[4:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.

[4:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a shelter it will be for shade by day from heat, and for a place of refuge and for a hiding place from cloudburst and rain.” Since both of the last nouns of this verse can mean rain, they can either refer to the rain storm and the rain as distinct items or together refer to a heavy downpour. Regardless, they do not represent unrelated phenomena.

[26:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “until anger passes by.”

[32:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.

[23:37]  ²¹ sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.

[23:37]  ²² tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your… you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill… sent to you”).

[23:37]  ²³ sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.

[23:37]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[23:37]  ²⁵ tn Grk “you were not willing.”