Psalms 3

LORD, look how many people are against me! So many are rising up to attack me.

1Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

2Many are saying about me, "God will not rescue him." Selah.

2Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

Note"Selah" is a Hebrew word left untranslated because nobody knows what it means. It appears seventy-one times in the Psalms and almost nowhere else, and is generally taken to be a direction to the musicians or singers (a pause, a swell, an instrumental break), rather than part of what is being said.

3But you, LORD, are a shield around me. You are my honor, and you are the one who lifts my head up.

3But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

NoteThree images in a row. A "shield" here is the large body-length kind, and the Hebrew phrase suggests protection on every side rather than in front only. "My glory" means the speaker's honor or standing in other people's eyes, the thing his enemies in verse 2 are trying to strip from him. And to lift someone's head was a set phrase for restoring them: a lowered head meant shame, grief, or defeat, so raising it meant being publicly cleared and given back one's dignity.

4I call out loud to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah.

4I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

NoteThe "holy mountain" is Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the hill where the temple stood and where God was understood to be present among his people. The point is that the answer comes from a specific known place, not from the sky in general.

5I lie down and sleep. I wake up again, because the LORD keeps me safe.

5I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

6I will not be afraid of the thousands upon thousands of people who have lined up against me on every side.

6I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

NoteThe Hebrew word is "myriads", ten thousands. It was the largest round number in ordinary use, and like "millions" in English it usually meant an uncountable crowd rather than a headcount.

7Get up, LORD! Save me, my God! For you have struck all my enemies on the jaw. You have broken the teeth of wicked people.

7Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

NoteTo strike someone on the jaw was a public humiliation, the insult of a superior to an inferior, not primarily an act of injury. Breaking the teeth is the image of a predator disarmed: the animal is still there but can no longer bite. The Hebrew verbs are ambiguous and can be read either as statements about what God has already done or as a continuation of the request, "strike them, break their teeth." Translators are divided; the rendering here takes the first reading.

8Rescue belongs to the LORD. May your blessing rest on your people. Selah.

8Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

Note"Salvation" translates a Hebrew word meaning rescue or victory, being pulled out of a concrete danger, here enemies in arms. It does not carry the narrower afterlife sense the English word has acquired. The last line shifts from the single speaker to the whole people, and the Hebrew can be read either as a statement ("your blessing is on your people") or as a wish ("may your blessing be on your people").