Mazmur 34:7

34:7 The Lord’s angel camps around

the Lord’s ¹  loyal followers ²  and delivers them. ³ 

Mazmur 46:1

Psalm 46 ⁴ 

For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; ⁵  a song.

46:1 God is our strong refuge; ⁶ 

he is truly our helper in times of trouble. ⁷ 

Mazmur 46:11

46:11 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! ⁸ 

The God of Jacob ⁹  is our protector! ¹⁰  (Selah)

Mazmur 94:17

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 118:13

118:13 “You aggressively attacked me ¹²  and tried to knock me down, ¹³ 

but the Lord helped me.

[34:7]  ¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:7]  ² tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[34:7]  ³ tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same generalizing force as the active participle in the first line. See GKC 329 §111.u.

[46:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.

[46:1]  ⁵ sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.

[46:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”

[46:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.

[46:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts is with us.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Ps 24:10). The military imagery is further developed in vv. 8-9.

[46:11]  ⁹ tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).

[46:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).

[94:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.

[118:13]  ¹² tn Heb “pushing, you pushed me.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea. The psalmist appears to address the nations as if they were an individual enemy. Some find this problematic and emend the verb form (which is a Qal perfect second masculine singular with a first person singular suffix) to נִדְחֵיתִי (nidkheti), a Niphal perfect first common singular, “I was pushed.”

[118:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “to fall,” i.e., “that [I] might fall.”