Mazmur 71:3

71:3 Be my protector and refuge, ¹ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ² 

For you are my high ridge ³  and my stronghold.

Mazmur 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!

Mazmur 91:9

91:9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,

my shelter, the sovereign One. ⁶ 

[71:3]  ¹ tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (ma’on, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (ma’oz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ² tc Heb “to enter continually, you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavo’ tamid tsivvita, “to enter continually, you commanded”) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (lÿvet mÿtsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ³ sn You are my high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[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.

[91:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “for you, the Lord, my shelter, the Most High, you have made your dwelling place.”