Mazmur 89:26

89:26 He will call out to me,

‘You are my father, ¹  my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ ² 

Mazmur 62:1

Psalm 62 ³ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; ⁴ 

he is the one who delivers me. ⁵ 

Mazmur 38:22

38:22 Hurry and help me, ⁶  O Lord, my deliverer!

Mazmur 118:14

118:14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me; ⁷ 

he has become my deliverer.” ⁸ 

[89:26]  ¹ sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[89:26]  ² tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”

[62:1]  ³ sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.

[62:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”

[62:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”

[38:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Ps 22:19.

[118:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “my strength and protection [is] the Lord.” The Hebrew term זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song” (“my strength and song [is] the Lord”) in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing). However, many recent commentators have argued that the noun זִמְרָת is here a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v.; cf. NEB “The Lord is my refuge and defence”; NRSV “my strength and my might.”

[118:14]  ⁸ tn Or “salvation.”