Psalm 18:28-29 New English Translation
28 Indeed,[a] you light my lamp, Lord.[b]
My God[c] illuminates the darkness around me.[d]
29 Indeed,[e] with your help[f] I can charge against[g] an army;[h]
by my God’s power[i] I can jump over a wall.[j]
Footnotes
- Psalm 18:28 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.
- Psalm 18:28 tn Ps 18:28 reads: “you light my lamp, Lord,” while 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neri, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (ʾori, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (taʾir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 could be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.
- Psalm 18:28 tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”
- Psalm 18:28 tn Heb “my darkness.”
- Psalm 18:29 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.
- Psalm 18:29 tn Heb “by you.”
- Psalm 18:29 tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 29 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [Heb “cause to run”] an army.”
- Psalm 18:29 tn More specifically, the noun גְּדוּד (gedud) refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops.sn I can charge against an army. The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.
- Psalm 18:29 tn Heb “and by my God.”
- Psalm 18:29 sn I can jump over a wall. The psalmist uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.
New English Translation (NET)
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