Font Size
Psalm 144:6-8
New English Translation
Psalm 144:6-8
New English Translation
6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter the enemy.
Shoot your arrows and rout them.[a]
7 Reach down[b] from above.
Grab me and rescue me from the surging water,[c]
from the power of foreigners,[d]
8 who speak lies,
and make false promises.[e]
Footnotes
- Psalm 144:6 sn Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 18:14; 77:17-18; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art (see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” [Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983], 187).
- Psalm 144:7 tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”
- Psalm 144:7 tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful foreign enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see the next line and Ps 18:16-17).
- Psalm 144:7 tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”
- Psalm 144:8 tn Heb “who [with] their mouth speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” The reference to the “right hand” is probably a metonymy for an oath. When making an oath, one would raise the hand as a solemn gesture. See Exod 6:8; Num 14:30; Deut 32:40. The figure thus represents the making of false oaths (false promises).
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.