Psalms 91:2

91:2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust –

Psalms 144:2

144:2 who loves me ¹  and is my stronghold,

my refuge ²  and my deliverer,

my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,

who makes nations submit to me. ³ 

Jeremiah 16:19

16:19 Then I said, ⁴ 

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.

You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ⁵ 

Nations from all over the earth

will come to you and say,

‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods –

worthless idols that could not help them at all. ⁶ 

[144:2]  ¹ tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).

[144:2]  ² tn Or “my elevated place.”

[144:2]  ³ tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”

[16:19]  ⁴ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation to show the shift from God, who has been speaking to Jeremiah, to Jeremiah, who here addresses God.

[16:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble. The literal which piles up attributes is of course more forceful than the predications. However, piling up poetic metaphors like this adds to the length of the English sentence and risks lack of understanding on the part of some readers. Some rhetorical force has been sacrificed for the sake of clarity.

[16:19]  ⁶ tn Once again the translation has sacrificed some of the rhetorical force for the sake of clarity and English style: Heb “Only falsehood did our ancestors possess, vanity and [things in which?] there was no one profiting in them.”