Psalms 63:7

63:7 For you are my deliverer; ¹ 

under your wings ²  I rejoice.

Psalms 61:3

61:3 Indeed, ³  you are ⁴  my shelter,

a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. ⁵ 

Psalms 90:1

Book 4
(Psalms 90-106)

Psalm 90 ⁶ 

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90:1 O Lord, you have been our protector ⁷  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. ⁸ 

Psalms 10:14

10:14 You have taken notice, ⁹ 

for ¹⁰  you always see ¹¹  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ¹² 

The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ¹³ 

you deliver ¹⁴  the fatherless. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 27:9

27:9 Do not reject me! ¹⁶ 

Do not push your servant away in anger!

You are my deliverer! ¹⁷ 

Do not forsake or abandon me,

O God who vindicates me!

Psalms 59:16

59:16 As for me, I will sing about your strength;

I will praise your loyal love in the morning.

For you are my refuge ¹⁸ 

and my place of shelter when I face trouble. ¹⁹ 

[63:7]  ¹ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[63:7]  ² tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”

[61:3]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[61:3]  ⁴ tn Or “have been.”

[61:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “a strong tower from the face of an enemy.”

[90:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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”).

[10:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

[10:14]  ¹⁰ tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

[10:14]  ¹¹ tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

[10:14]  ¹² tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

[10:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

[10:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “help.”

[10:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).

[27:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[27:9]  ¹² tn Or “[source of] help.”

[59:16]  ¹³ tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[59:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and my shelter in the day of my distress.”