7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him.
You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
> I love you, Yahweh, my strength. Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, But Yahweh helped me. Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. "The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly.
Yahweh is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Yahweh is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, Than to put confidence in man. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, Than to put confidence in princes.
Sing to Yahweh a new song! Sing to Yahweh, all the earth. Sing to Yahweh! Bless his name! Proclaim his salvation from day to day! Declare his glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, Neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: and he said, Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine; God, my rock, in him will I take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; My savior, you save me from violence. I will call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from my enemies. For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid: The cords of Sheol were round about me; The snares of death came on me. In my distress I called on Yahweh; Yes, I called to my God: He heard my voice out of his temple, My cry [came] into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled, The foundations of heaven quaked Were shaken, because he was angry. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, Fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down; Thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub, and did fly; Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind. He made darkness pavilions round about him, Gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness before him Coals of fire were kindled. Yahweh thundered from heaven, The Most High uttered his voice. He sent out arrows, and scattered them; Lightning, and confused them. Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare, By the rebuke of Yahweh, At the blast of the breath of his nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me; He drew me out of many waters; He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me. They came on me in the day of my calamity; But Yahweh was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me. Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, And have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his ordinances were before me; As for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also perfect toward him; I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore has Yahweh recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight. With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect; With the pure you will show yourself pure; With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. The afflicted people you will save; But your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down. For you are my lamp, Yahweh; Yahweh will lighten my darkness. For by you I run on a troop; By my God do I leap over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect: The word of Yahweh is tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. For who is God, save Yahweh? Who is a rock, save our God? God is my strong fortress; He guides the perfect in his way. He makes his feet like hinds' [feet], Sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to war, So that my arms do bend a bow of brass. You have also given me the shield of your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great. You have enlarged my steps under me; My feet have not slipped. I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them; Neither did I turn again until they were consumed. I have consumed them, and struck them through, so that they can't arise: Yes, they are fallen under my feet. For you have girded me with strength to the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, That I might cut off those who hate me. They looked, but there was none to save; Even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them. Then did I beat them small as the dust of the earth, I did crush them as the mire of the streets, and did spread them abroad. You also have delivered me from the strivings of my people; You have kept me to be the head of the nations: A people whom I have not known shall serve me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me: As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. The foreigners shall fade away, Shall come trembling out of their close places. Yahweh lives; Blessed be my rock; Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, Even the God who executes vengeance for me, Who brings down peoples under me, Who brings me forth from my enemies: Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me; You deliver me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations, Will sing praises to your name. Great deliverance gives he to his king, Shows loving kindness to his anointed, To David and to his seed, forevermore.
Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exults in Yahweh; My horn is exalted in Yahweh; My mouth is enlarged over my enemies; Because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy as Yahweh; For there is none besides you, Neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; Don't let arrogance come out of your mouth; For Yahweh is a God of knowledge, By him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken; Those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired out themselves for bread; Those who were hungry have ceased [to hunger]: Yes, the barren has borne seven; She who has many children languishes. Yahweh kills, and makes alive: He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich: He brings low, he also lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust, He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, Inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's, He has set the world on them. He will keep the feet of his holy ones; But the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail. Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces; Against them will he thunder in the sky: Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth; He will give strength to his king, Exalt the horn of his anointed. Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child did minister to Yahweh before Eli the priest.
Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, For that the people offered themselves willingly, Bless you Yahweh. Hear, you kings; give ear, you princes; I, [even] I, will sing to Yahweh; I will sing praise to Yahweh, the God of Israel. Yahweh, when you went forth out of Seir, When you marched out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the sky also dropped, Yes, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked at the presence of Yahweh, Even yon Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, The travelers walked through byways. The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods; Then was war in the gates: Was there a shield or spear seen Among forty thousand in Israel? My heart is toward the governors of Israel, Who offered themselves willingly among the people: Bless you Yahweh. Tell [of it], you who ride on white donkeys, You who sit on rich carpets, You who walk by the way. Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Yahweh, [Even] the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates. Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: Arise, Barak, and lead away your captives, you son of Abinoam. Then came down a remnant of the nobles [and] the people; Yahweh came down for me against the mighty. Out of Ephraim [came down] they whose root is in Amalek; After you, Benjamin, among your peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, Out of Zebulun those who handle the marshal's staff. The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As was Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed forth at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben There were great resolves of heart. Why sat you among the sheepfolds, To hear the whistling for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben There were great searchings of heart. Gilead abode beyond the Jordan: Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, Abode by his creeks. Zebulun was a people that jeopardized their lives to the death, Naphtali, on the high places of the field. The kings came and fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan. In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo: They took no gain of money. From the sky the stars fought, From their courses they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. My soul, march on with strength. Then did the horse hoofs stamp By reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones. Curse you Meroz, said the angel of Yahweh. Curse you bitterly the inhabitants of it, Because they didn't come to the help of Yahweh, To the help of Yahweh against the mighty. Blessed above women shall Jael be, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He asked water, [and] she gave him milk; She brought him butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the tent-pin, Her right hand to the workmen's hammer; With the hammer she struck Sisera, she struck through his head; Yes, she pierced and struck through his temples. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; At her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Through the window she looked forth, and cried, The mother of Sisera [cried] through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots wait? Her wise ladies answered her, Yes, she returned answer to herself, Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A lady, two ladies to every man; To Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, A spoil of dyed garments embroidered, Of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil? So let all your enemies perish, Yahweh: But let those who love him be as the sun when he goes forth in his might. The land had rest forty years.
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. Yah is my strength and song, He has become my salvation: This is my God, and I will praise him; My father's God, and I will exalt him. Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host has he cast into the sea; His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power, Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces. In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you: You send forth your wrath. It consumes them as stubble. With the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. "You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone; Until your people pass over, Yahweh, Until the people pass over who you have purchased. You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, The place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in; The sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established. Yahweh shall reign forever and ever." For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea. Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. Miriam answered them, "Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 28
Commentary on Psalms 28 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Cry for Help and Thanksgiving, in a Time of Rebellion
To Psalms 26:1-12 and Psalms 27:1-14 a third Psalm is here added, belonging to the time of the persecution by Absolom. In this Psalm, also, the drawing towards the sanctuary of God cannot be lost sight of; and in addition thereto we have the intercession of the anointed one, when personally imperilled, on behalf of the people who are equally in need of help, - an intercession which can only be rightly estimated in connection with the circumstances of that time. Like Psalms 27:1-14 this, its neighbour, also divides into two parts; these parts, however, though their lines are of a different order, nevertheless bear a similar poetic impress. Both are composed of verses consisting of two and three lines. There are many points of contact between this Psalm and Psalms 27:1-14; e.g., in the epithet applied to God, מעוז ; but compare also Psalms 28:3 with Psalms 26:9; Psalms 28:2 with Psalms 31:23; Psalms 28:9 with Psalms 29:11. The echoes of this Psalm in Isaiah are very many, and also in Jeremiah.
This first half of the Psalm (Psalms 28:1) is supplicatory. The preposition מן in connection with the verbs חרשׁ , to be deaf, dumb, and חשׁה , to keep silence, is a pregnant form of expression denoting an aversion or turning away which does not deign to give the suppliant an answer. Jahve is his צוּר , his ground of confidence; but if He continues thus to keep silence, then he who confides in Him will become like those who are going down (Psalms 22:30), or are gone down (Isaiah 14:19) to the pit. The participle of the past answers better to the situation of one already on the brink of the abyss. In the double sentence with פּן , the chief accent falls upon the second clause, for which the first only paratactically opens up the way (cf. Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 12:1); in Latin it would be ne, te mihi non respondente, similis fiam . Olshausen, and Baur with him, believes that because ונמשׁלתּי has not the accent on the ultima as being perf. consec ., it must be interpreted according to the accentuation thus, “in order that Thou mayst no longer keep silence, whilst I am already become like...” But this ought to be ואני נמשׁל , or at least נמשׁלתּי ואני . And if ונמשלתי were to be taken as a real perfect, it would then rather have to be rendered “and I should then be like.” But, notwithstanding ונמשׁלתּי is Milel , it is still perf . consecuticum (“and I am become like”); for if, in a sentence of more than one member following upon פן , the fut ., as is usually the case (vid., on Psalms 38:17), goes over into the perf ., then the latter, in most instances, has the tone of the perf. consec . (Deuteronomy 4:19, Judges 18:25, Proverbs 5:9-12, Malachi 4:6), but not always. The penultima -accentuation is necessarily retained in connection with the two great pausal accents, Silluk and Athnach , Deuteronomy 8:12; Proverbs 30:9; in this passage in connection with Rebia mugrash , just as we may say, in general, the perf. consec . sometimes retains its penultima -accentuation in connection with distinctives instead of being accented on the ultima ; e.g., in connection with Rebia mugrash , Proverbs 30:9; with Rebia , Proverbs 19:14 (cf. Proverbs 30:9 with Ezekiel 14:17); with Zakeph . 1 Samuel 29:8; and even with Tiphcha Obad. Obadiah 1:10, Joel 3:21. The national grammarians are ignorant of any law on this subject.
(Note: Aben-Ezra ( Moznajim 36 b ) explains the perfect accented on the penult . in Proverbs 30:9 from the conformity of sound, and Kimchi ( Michlol 6 b ) simply records the phenomenon.)
The point towards which the psalmist stretches forth his hands in prayer is Jahve's holy דּביר . Such is the word (after the form בּריח , כּליא , עטין ) used only in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, with the exception of this passage, to denote the Holy of Holies, not as being χρηματιστήριον (Aquila and Symmachus), or λαλητήριον , oraculum (Jerome), as it were, Jahve's audience chamber (Hengstenberg) - a meaning that is not in accordance with the formation of the word, - but as the hinder part of the tent, from דּבר , Arabic dabara , to be behind, whence dubr (Talmudic דּוּבר ), that which is behind (opp. kubl . kibal , that which is in the front), cf. Jesurun p. 87f. In Psalms 28:3, Psalms 28:4 the prayer is expanded. משׁך (instead of which we find אסף in Psalms 26:9), to draw any one down forcibly to destruction, or to drag him to the place of judgment, Ezekiel 32:20, cf. Psalms 10:8; Job 24:22. The delineation of the ungodly David borrows from his actual foes, Should he succumb to them, then his fate would be like that which awaits them, to whom he is conscious that he is radically unlike. He therefore prays that God's recompensing justice may anticipate him, i.e., that He may requite them according to their desert, before he succumbs, to whom they have feigned שׁלום , a good understanding, or being on good terms, whereas they cherished in their heart the רעה that is now unmasked (cf. Jeremiah 9:7). נתן , used of an official adjudication, as in Hosea 9:14; Jeremiah 32:19. The epanaphora of תּן־להם is like Psalms 27:14.
(Note: This repetition, at the end, of a significant word that has been used at the beginning of a verse, is a favourite custom of Isaiah's ( Comment . S. 387; transl. ii. 134).)
The phrase השׁיב גּמוּל ( שׁלּם ) , which occurs frequently in the prophets, signifies to recompense or repay to any one his accomplishing, his manifestation, that is to say, what he has done and merited; the thoughts and expression call to mind more particularly Isaiah 3:8-11; Isaiah 1:16. The right to pray for recompense (vengeance) is grounded, in Psalms 28:5, upon their blindness to God's just and merciful rule as it is to be seen in human history (cf. Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 22:11). The contrast of בּנה and חרס , to pull down (with a personal object, as in Exodus 15:7), is like Jeremiah's style (Psalms 42:10, cf. 1:10; Psalms 18:9, and frequently, Sir. 49:7). In Psalms 28:5 , the prominent thought in David's mind is, that they shamefully fail to recognise how gloriously and graciously God has again and again acknowledged him as His anointed one. He has (2 Sam 7) received the promise, that God would build him a house, i.e., grant perpetual continuance to his kingship. The Absolomites are in the act of rebellion against this divine appointment. Hence they shall experience the very reverse of the divine promise given to David: Jahve will pull them down and not build them up, He will destroy, at its very commencement, this dynasty set up in opposition to God.
The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald). It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psalms 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut . consec ., as is frequently the case, e.g., in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced. In משּׁירי , the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ , as in Ps 45:18; Psalms 116:6; 1 Samuel 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering ( Leid ) springs song ( Lied ), and from song springs the praise ( Lob ) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psalms 28:6 and Psalms 28:8.
(Note: There is a play of words and an alliteration in this sentence which we cannot fully reproduce in the English. - Tr.)
The αὐτοί , who are intended by למו in Psalms 28:8 , are those of Israel, as in Psalms 12:8; Isaiah 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx ( κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ ) reads לעמּו , as in Psalms 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all David thinks of the people, then of himself; for his private character retreats behind his official, by virtue of which he is the head of Israel. For this very reason his deliverance is the deliverance of Israel, to whom, so far as they have become unfaithful to His anointed, Jahve has not requited this faithlessness, and to whom, so far as they have remained true to him, He has rewarded this fidelity. Jahve is a עז a si evhaJ to them, inasmuch as He preserves them by His might from the destruction into which they would have precipitated themselves, or into which others would have precipitated them; and He is the מעוז ישׁוּעות of His anointed inasmuch as He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of refuge which secures to him salvation in all its fulness instead of the destruction anticipated. Israel's salvation and blessing were at stake; but Israel is in fact God's people and God's inheritance - may He, then, work salvation for them in every future need and bless them. Apostatised from David, it was a flock in the hands of the hireling - may He ever take the place of shepherd to them and carry them in His arms through the destruction. The נשּׂאם coupled with וּרעם (thus it is to be pointed according to Ben-Asher) calls to mind Deuteronomy 1:31, “Jahve carried Israel as a man doth carry his son,” and Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11, “as on eagles' wings.” The Piel , as in Isaiah 63:9, is used of carrying the weak, whom one lifts up and thus removes out of its helplessness and danger. Psalms 3:1-8 closes just in the same way with an intercession; and the close of Psalms 29:1-11 is similar, but promissory, and consequently it is placed next to Psalms 28:1-9.