Psalms 20

May the LORD answer you when trouble comes. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe.

1The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;

NoteThe "you" here and through verse 5 is a single person, addressed by a group, the king, before he goes out to battle. In Hebrew a person's name stood for the person himself: his character, his reputation, his power to act. "The name of the God of Jacob" means the God of Jacob himself, present and able to help. Jacob was the ancestor from whom the twelve tribes of Israel traced their descent, so "the God of Jacob" identifies this God as the one bound to Israel by long-standing agreement.

2May he send you help from the holy place where he is worshiped, and hold you up from Zion.

2Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;

NoteThe sanctuary is the temple in Jerusalem, the building where sacrifices were offered and where God was understood to be present among his people. Zion was originally the name of a fortified hill in Jerusalem; by the time this psalm was written it stood for the temple mount, and by extension for Jerusalem itself as the place God had chosen.

3May he remember every gift you have brought, and be pleased with your burnt offering. Selah.

3Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.

NoteA burnt offering was an animal killed and then burned whole on the altar, so that none of it was eaten (the most costly form of sacrifice, since the worshiper kept nothing back. Offerings like this were customary before a king went to war. "Remember" in Hebrew is not simply calling something to mind; it means to keep it in view and act on it favorably. "Selah" is a term left untranslated because no one now knows what it meant. It appears in the psalms at breaks in the text and was probably a direction to the musicians) a pause, a change of volume, or an instrumental passage.

4May he give you what your own heart wants, and make every plan of yours succeed.

4Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.

5We will shout for joy when you win, and we will lift up our flags in the name of our God. May the LORD give you everything you ask for.

5We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

NoteBanners were the standards an army carried into battle, marking who the troops belonged to and where the line was. Raising them was the gesture of an army in victory. Some read the Hebrew verb here as "we will set up our banners"; others take it from a similar-sounding root meaning "we will be marked out" or "we will wave a flag," and the sense is the same either way: a public display of whose side one is on.

6Now I know that the LORD rescues the king he has chosen. He answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.

6Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.

Note"Anointed" translates the Hebrew *mashiach*, from which the English word "messiah" comes; the Greek equivalent gives us "Christ." It means a person who has had olive oil poured over his head, the ceremony by which Israel's kings and priests were installed in office. Here it means the reigning king. The right hand is the sword hand and the strong hand; "the saving power of his right hand" is a standard way of speaking of God's strength put to use.

7Some people trust in chariots, and some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

7Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

NoteChariots and cavalry horses were the most expensive and most feared military equipment of the ancient world, the technology only wealthy states could field. Israel's armies were largely foot soldiers, and its law warned its kings against building up stocks of horses. The contrast is between military hardware and reliance on God, not between two kinds of piety.

8They are brought down and fall, but we get up and stand firm.

8They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

9Save, LORD. Let the king hear us when we call.

9Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

NoteThe Hebrew of this line can be divided two ways, and translators disagree. Read as the King James Version reads it, it is a plea to God to save, followed by a request that the king listen to the people. Read the other way, followed by most modern translations, it asks God to save the king and to answer the people when they call. The difference turns on where the pause falls and which word goes with which; the Hebrew consonants permit both.