1 Samuel 12:10

12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ¹  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ²  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ³ 

1 Samuel 24:15

24:15 May the Lord be our judge and arbiter. May he see and arbitrate my case and deliver me from your hands!”

Mazmur 16:1

Psalm 16 ⁴ 

A prayer ⁵  of David.

16:1 Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you. ⁶ 

Mazmur 25:20

25:20 Protect me ⁷  and deliver me!

Please do not let me be humiliated,

for I have taken shelter in you!

Mazmur 31:2

31:2 Listen to me! ⁸ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ⁹ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 43:1

Psalm 43 ¹¹ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ¹²  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ¹³  from deceitful and evil men! ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 59:1-2

Psalm 59 ¹⁵ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ¹⁶  a prayer ¹⁷  of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him. ¹⁸ 

59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!

Protect me ¹⁹  from those who attack me! ²⁰ 

59:2 Deliver me from evildoers! ²¹ 

Rescue me from violent men! ²² 

Mazmur 119:134

119:134 Deliver me ²³  from oppressive men,

so that I can keep ²⁴  your precepts.

Mazmur 142:6

142:6 Listen to my cry for help,

for I am in serious trouble! ²⁵ 

Rescue me from those who chase me,

for they are stronger than I am.

Amsal 18:19

18:19 A relative ²⁶  offended ²⁷  is harder to reach than ²⁸  a strong city,

and disputes are like the barred gates ²⁹  of a fortified citadel. ³⁰ 

Daniel 3:17

3:17 If ³¹  our God whom we are serving exists, ³²  he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well.

Matius 6:13

6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, ³³  but deliver us from the evil one. ³⁴ 

[12:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and said.”

[12:10]  ² tn Heb “the Ashtarot” (plural). The words “images of” are supplied in both vv. 3 and 4 for clarity.

[12:10]  sn The Semitic goddess Astarte was associated with love and war in the ancient Near East. See the note on the same term in 7:3.

[12:10]  ³ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result.

[16:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 16. The psalmist seeks divine protection because he has remained loyal to God. He praises God for his rich blessings, and is confident God will vindicate him and deliver him from death.

[16:1]  ⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term מִכְתָּם (mikhtam) is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[16:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results (see 7:1; 11:1).

[16:1]  sn Taken shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[25:20]  ⁷ tn Or “my life.”

[31:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[43:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ¹² tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ¹³ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[59:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 59. The psalmist calls down judgment on his foreign enemies, whom he compares to ravenous wild dogs.

[59:1]  ¹⁶ 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 superscription to Pss 57-58, 75.

[59:1]  ¹⁷ 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.”

[59:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.”

[59:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when Saul sent assassins to surround David’s house and kill him in the morning (see 1 Sam 19:11). However, the psalm itself mentions foreign enemies (vv. 5, 8). Perhaps these references reflect a later adaptation of an original Davidic psalm.

[59:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”

[59:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from those who raise themselves up [against] me.”

[59:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the workers of wickedness.”

[59:2]  ²² tn Heb “from men of bloodshed.”

[119:134]  ²³ tn Or “redeem me.”

[119:134]  ²⁴ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[142:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for I am very low.”

[18:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “brother,” but this is not limited to actual siblings (cf. NRSV “an ally”; CEV, NLT “friend”).

[18:19]  ²⁷ tn The Niphal participle from פָּשַׁע (pasha’) modifies “brother”: a brother transgressed, offended, sinned against.

[18:19]  ²⁸ tc The LXX has a clear antithetical proverb here: “A brother helped is like a stronghold, but disputes are like bars of a citadel.” Accordingly, the editors of BHS propose מוֹשִׁיעַ (moshia’) instead of נִפְשָׁע (nifsha’, so also the other versions and the RSV). But since both lines use the comparison with a citadel (fortified/barred), the antithesis is problematic.

[18:19]  tn The phrase “is harder to reach” is supplied in the translation on the basis of the comparative מִן (min). It is difficult to get into a fortified city; it is more difficult to reach an offended brother.

[18:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “bars,” but this could be understood to mean “taverns,” so “barred gates” is employed in the translation.

[18:19]  ³⁰ sn The proverb is talking about changing a friend or a relative into an enemy by abuse or strife – the bars go up, as it were. And the “walls” that are erected are not easily torn down.

[3:17]  ³¹ tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.

[3:17]  ³² tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (’itay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ’itay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 45, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power.

[6:13]  ³³ tn Or “into a time of testing.”

[6:13]  sn The request do not lead us into temptation is not to suggest God causes temptation, but is a rhetorical way to ask for his protection from sin.

[6:13]  ³⁴ tc Most mss (L W Θ 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï sy sa Didache) read (though some with slight variation) ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν (“for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen”) here. The reading without this sentence, though, is attested by generally better witnesses (א B D Z 0170 ˹ pc lat mae Or). The phrase was probably composed for the liturgy of the early church and most likely was based on 1 Chr 29:11-13; a scribe probably added the phrase at this point in the text for use in public scripture reading (see TCGNT 13-14). Both external and internal evidence argue for the shorter reading.

[6:13]  tn The term πονηροῦ (ponhrou) may be understood as specific and personified, referring to the devil, or possibly as a general reference to evil. It is most likely personified since it is articular (τοῦ πονηροῦ, tou ponhrou). Cf. also “the evildoer” in 5:39, which is the same construction.