DELIVER (DELIVERANCE). 1. “Deliver” in the sense of “give birth to.” The words involved are יָלַד, H3528, (e.g., Isa 9:6); τίκτω, G5503, (Matt 1:21) and γεννάω, G1164, (Matt 1:20).

2. “Deliver” in the sense of “give up or over (to).” The words are נָתַן, H5989, (Hos 11:8), and παραδίδωμι, G4140, (Rom 8:32).

3. “Deliver” in the sense of “save, rescue, redeem, set free.” The primary words are (only the main verbal roots are listed, not the derivatives): נָצַל, H5911, “snatch away, deliver”; יָשַׁע, H3828, “save, deliver, give victory to”; גָּאַל֒, H1457, “act as kinsman-redeemer, redeem, avenge, vindicate”; פָּדָה, H7009, “ransom, deliver from bondage”; ῥύομαι, G4861, “rescue, deliver”; σῴζω, G5392, “preserve, save,” synonymous with hruomai, though the idea of “preserve from” is predominant in sōzō, that of “rescue from” in hruomai; λυτρόω, G3390, “set free by paying a ransom, redeem”; and (ἐξ) αγοράζω, “buy (out or back).”

The words in the third category have many applications, referring either to material and temporal deliverance or to spiritual and eternal deliverance. In the NT “save” largely takes the place of “deliver” in the OT, and the emphasis is more on spiritual and eternal deliverance, although the latter is present in the OT. The following are rather typical deliverances:

a. Exodus 6:6; 15:13: from bondage. The Exodus (Israel’s deliverance from Egypt’s bondage) is frequently alluded to as the supreme demonstration of God’s power on behalf of His OT people.

b. Psalm 33:19: from death.

c. Psalm 34:6: from troubles.

d. Psalm 107:6, 13, 19: from distresses. Concerning the Psalms, Westermann maintains that the significance of the waw adversative in the petition by an individual is that it indicates the change from lamentation to confession of trust or assurance of being heard, the transition from petition to praise. Thus even in Psalms of individual petition or lament there is a movement from supplication to praise for expected deliverance (The Praise of God in the Psalms, pp. 64-81).

e. Daniel 3:17, 28: from the fiery furnace.

f. Daniel 6:14, 16, 20, 27: from the den of lions. In the references cited from Daniel, the Aram. verb is the shaphel form שֵׁיזִב, H10706, a loan word from Akkad. ušēzib, preterit of šūzubu, “rescue, save, deliver.”

g. Romans 8:21: from decay (creation).

h. Isaiah 59:20 and Romans 11:26: of Israel by the Messiah (future and spiritual).

i. Matthew 6:13: prob. from Satan (“deliver us from the evil one”).

j. Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8; etc.: from the power of sin, Satan, the second death, etc. Thus, even the basic idea of spiritual redemption or salvation is deliverance, e.g., deliverance from sin’s penalty, power, and, eventually, presence.

Bibliography Trench (1865); R. B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament (1897); BDB (1907); ISBE (1939); W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (1940); Arndt (1957); C. Westermann, The Praise of God in the Psalms (1965).