Psalms 57:4

57:4 I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down ¹  among those who want to devour me; ² 

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are a sharp sword. ³ 

Psalms 57:1

Psalm 57 ⁴ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ⁵  a prayer ⁶  of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. ⁷ 

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

For in you I have taken shelter. ⁸ 

In the shadow of your wings ⁹  I take shelter

until trouble passes.

Psalms 20:1

Psalm 20 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

20:1 May the Lord answer ¹¹  you ¹²  when you are in trouble; ¹³ 

may the God of Jacob ¹⁴  make you secure!

Ezekiel 2:6

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ¹⁵  and thorns ¹⁶  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹⁷  for they are a rebellious house!

Matthew 10:16

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I ¹⁸  am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, ¹⁹  so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:36

10:36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. ²⁰ 

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

[57:4]  ¹ tn The cohortative form אֶשְׁכְּבָה (’eshkÿvah, “I lie down”) is problematic, for it does not seem to carry one of the normal functions of the cohortative (resolve or request). One possibility is that the form here is a “pseudo-cohortative” used here in a gnomic sense (IBHS 576-77 §34.5.3b).

[57:4]  ² tn The Hebrew verb לָהַט (lahat) is here understood as a hapax legomenon meaning “devour” (see HALOT 521 s.v. II להט), a homonym of the more common verb meaning “to burn.” A more traditional interpretation takes the verb from this latter root and translates, “those who are aflame” (see BDB 529 s.v.; cf. NASB “those who breathe forth fire”).

[57:4]  ³ tn Heb “my life, in the midst of lions, I lie down, devouring ones, sons of mankind, their teeth a spear and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.” The syntax of the verse is difficult. Another option is to take “my life” with the preceding verse. For this to make sense, one must add a verb, perhaps “and may he deliver” (cf. the LXX), before the phrase. One might then translate, “May God send his loyal love and faithfulness and deliver my life.” If one does take “my life” with v. 4, then the parallelism of v. 5 is altered and one might translate: “in the midst of lions I lie down, [among] men who want to devour me, whose teeth….”

[57:1]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “my life has taken shelter.” The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[57:1]  ⁹ sn In the shadow of your wings. The metaphor likens God to a protective mother bird (see also Pss 17:8; 36:7).

[20:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 20. The people pray for the king’s success in battle. When the king declares his assurance that the Lord will answer the people’s prayer, they affirm their confidence in God’s enablement.

[20:1]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in vv. 1b-5 are interpreted as jussives of prayer (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). Another option is to understand them as imperfects, “the Lord will answer,” etc. In this case the people declare their confidence that the Lord will intervene on behalf of the king and extend to him his favor.

[20:1]  ¹² sn May the Lord answer you. The people address the king as they pray to the Lord.

[20:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “in a day of trouble.”

[20:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the name of the God of Jacob.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his very person and to the divine characteristics suggested by his name, in this case “God of Jacob,” which highlights his relationship to Israel.

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[10:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Behold I.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[10:16]  ¹⁹ sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.

[10:36]  ²⁰ tn Matt 10:35-36 are an allusion to Mic 7:6.