Mazmur 18:35

18:35 You give me your protective shield; ¹ 

your right hand supports me; ² 

your willingness to help ³  enables me to prevail. ⁴ 

Mazmur 37:24

37:24 Even if ⁵  he trips, he will not fall headlong, ⁶ 

for the Lord holds ⁷  his hand.

Mazmur 73:23

73:23 But I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

Mazmur 94:18

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

[18:35]  ¹ tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”

[18:35]  sn You give me your protective shield. Ancient Near Eastern literature often refers to a god giving a king special weapons. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 260-61.

[18:35]  ² tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).

[18:35]  ³ tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”

[18:35]  ⁴ tn Heb “makes me great.”

[37:24]  ⁵ tn Other translation options for כִּי in this context are “when” (so NASB) or “though” (so NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[37:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “be hurled down.”

[37:24]  ⁷ tn The active participle indicates this is characteristically true. See v. 17.