Mazmur 34:9-10

34:9 Remain loyal to ¹  the Lord, you chosen people of his, ² 

for his loyal followers ³  lack nothing!

34:10 Even young lions sometimes lack food and are hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Mazmur 37:3

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ⁴ 

Mazmur 37:18-19

37:18 The Lord watches over the innocent day by day ⁵ 

and they possess a permanent inheritance. ⁶ 

37:19 They will not be ashamed when hard times come; ⁷ 

when famine comes they will have enough to eat. ⁸ 

Mazmur 37:25

37:25 I was once young, now I am old.

I have never seen a godly man abandoned,

or his children ⁹  forced to search for food. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 84:11-12

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹¹ 

The Lord bestows favor ¹²  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ¹³ 

84:12 O Lord who rules over all, ¹⁴ 

how blessed are those who trust in you! ¹⁵ 

[34:9]  ¹ tn Heb “fear.”

[34:9]  ² tn Heb “O holy ones of his.”

[34:9]  ³ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[37:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.

[37:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord knows the days of the innocent ones.” He “knows” their days in the sense that he is intimately aware of and involved in their daily struggles. He meets their needs and sustains them.

[37:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and their inheritance is forever.”

[37:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “in a time of trouble.”

[37:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “in days of famine they will be satisfied.”

[37:25]  ⁹ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “or his offspring searching for food.” The expression “search for food” also appears in Lam 1:11, where Jerusalem’s refugees are forced to search for food and to trade their valuable possessions for something to eat.

[84:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ¹² tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[84:12]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally “Lord of hosts.”

[84:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man [who] trusts in you.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to here is representative of all followers of God, as the use of the plural form in v. 12b indicates.