Psalms 27
1The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ▼I fear no one! ▼
▼ Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
The Lord protects my life!
I am afraid of no one! ▼
▼ Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
2 When evil men attack me ▼
▼ Heb “draw near to me.”
to devour my flesh, ▼
▼ To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).
when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ▼
▼ Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.
they stumble and fall. ▼
▼ The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”
3 Even when an army is deployed against me,
I do not fear. ▼
▼ Heb “my heart does not fear.”
Even when war is imminent, ▼
▼ Heb “if war rises up against me.”
I remain confident. ▼
▼ Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”
4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –
this is what I desire!
I want to live ▼
▼ Heb “my living.”
in the Lord’s house ▼▼ The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).
all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor ▼
▼ Or “beauty.”
of the Lord and contemplate in his temple.
5 He will surely ▼
▼ Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.
give me shelter ▼▼ Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”
in the day of danger; ▼▼ Or “trouble.”
he will hide me in his home; ▼
▼ Heb “tent.”
he will place me ▼ on an inaccessible rocky summit. ▼
6 Now I will triumph
over my enemies who surround me! ▼
▼ Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”
▼ I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ▼
▼ Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).
I will sing praises to the Lord!
7 Hear me, ▼
▼ Heb “my voice.”
O Lord, when I cry out! Have mercy on me and answer me!
8 My heart tells me to pray to you, ▼
▼ Heb “concerning you my heart says, ‘Seek my face.’” The verb form “seek” is plural, but this makes no sense here, for the psalmist is addressed. The verb should be emended to a singular form. The first person pronominal suffix on “face” also makes little sense, unless it is the voice of the Lord he hears. His “heart” is viewed as speaking, however, so it is better to emend the form to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”).
and I do pray to you, O Lord. ▼
▼ Heb “your face, O Lord, I seek.” To “seek the Lord’s face” means to seek his favor through prayer (see 2 Sam 21:1; Pss 24:6; 105:4).
9 Do not reject me! ▼
Do not push your servant away in anger!
You are my deliverer! ▼
▼ Or “[source of] help.”
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me!
10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, ▼
▼ Or “though my father and mother have abandoned me.”
the Lord would take me in. ▼
▼ Heb “gather me in”; or “receive me.”
11 Teach me how you want me to live; ▼
lead me along a level path ▼ because of those who wait to ambush me! ▼
12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ▼
▼ Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”
for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ▼
▼ Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.
13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? ▼
▼ In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The words “Where would I be” are supplied in the translation to clarify the intent of the statement.
Rely ▼
▼ Or “wait.”
on the Lord! Be strong and confident! ▼
▼ Heb “be strong and let your heart be confident.”
Rely on the Lord!
Psalm 28
▼▼ Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.
By David.
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