Psalms 61:3

61:3 Indeed, ¹  you are ²  my shelter,

a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. ³ 

Psalms 90:1

Book 4
(Psalms 90-106)

Psalm 90 ⁴ 

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90:1 O Lord, you have been our protector ⁵  through all generations!

Psalms 99:8

99:8 O Lord our God, you answered them.

They found you to be a forgiving God,

but also one who punished their sinful deeds. ⁶ 

[61:3]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[61:3]  ² tn Or “have been.”

[61:3]  ³ tn Heb “a strong tower from the face of an enemy.”

[90:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 90. In this communal lament the worship leader affirms that the eternal God and creator of the world has always been Israel’s protector. But God also causes men, who are as transient as grass, to die, and in his fierce anger he decimates his covenant community, whose brief lives are filled with suffering and end in weakness. The community asks for wisdom, the restoration of God’s favor, a fresh revelation of his power, and his blessing upon their labors.

[90:1]  ⁵ tn Or “place of safety.” See Ps 71:3.

[99:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which understands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to emend the participial form נֹקֵם (noqem, “an avenger”) to נֹקָם (noqam), a rare Qal participial form of נָקַה (naqah, “purify”) with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and held them innocent”).