Psa 28:9 | NETfull | STEP | Deliver your people! Empower the nation that belongs to you! Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms at all times! A psalm of David.

Psalms 28:9

Deliver your people!
Empower ^{▼▼ Or “bless.”} the nation that belongs to you! ^{▼▼ Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.}
Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ^{▼▼ Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”} ^{▼▼ The shepherd metaphor is sometimes associated with royal responsibility. See 2 Sam 5:2; 7:7; Mic 5:2–4).} at all times! ^{▼▼ Or “forever.”}

Psalm 29

^{▼▼ Psalm 29. In this hymn of praise the psalmist calls upon the heavenly assembly to acknowledge the royal splendor of the Lord. He describes the Lord’s devastating power as revealed in the thunderstorm and affirms that the Lord exerts this awesome might on behalf of his people. In its original context the psalm was a bold polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, for it affirms that the Lord is the real king who controls the elements of the storm, contrary to pagan belief. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 150 (1994): 280-82.}