Psalms 91: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This psalm describes the person who takes shelter with the Most High and stays in his shadow. It lists the dangers that person is kept from: the trapper's snare, deadly disease, terror at night, arrows by day, disaster at noon, and lions and snakes underfoot, with angels ordered to guard him. The voice shifts through the psalm, speaking first about God, then directly to the one who trusts him, and in the last three verses God himself speaks, promising to rescue, answer, honor, and satisfy with long life the one who loves him and knows his name.

Claim by Claim

1. 91:1
   • The one who dwells in the hiding place of the Most High will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.
2. 91:2
   • The speaker will say concerning the LORD that He is his refuge.
   • The speaker calls the LORD his fortress.
   • The speaker calls the LORD his God.
   • The speaker will trust in Him.
3. 91:3
   • He will deliver you from the trap of the bird-catcher.
   • He will deliver you from the destructive plague.
4. 91:4
   • He will cover you with His pinions.
   • You will take refuge under His wings.
   • His faithfulness is a shield and a protective rampart.
5. 91:5
   • You will not fear the terror of the night.
   • You will not fear the arrow that flies by day.
6. 91:6
   • You will not fear the plague that walks in the darkness.
   • You will not fear the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7. 91:7
   • A thousand will fall at your side.
   • Ten thousand will fall at your right hand.
   • It will not come near you.
8. 91:8
   • You will only look with your eyes.
   • You will see the recompense given to the wicked.
9. 91:9
   • The LORD is the speaker's refuge.
   • You have made the Most High your dwelling place.
10. 91:10
    • No evil will befall you.
    • No plague will come near your tent.
11. 91:11
    • He will command His angels concerning you.
    • The angels are to guard you in all your ways.
12. 91:12
    • They will carry you on their hands.
    • The purpose is that you not strike your foot against a stone.
13. 91:13
    • You will tread upon the lion and the venomous snake.
    • You will trample the young lion and the serpent or sea-monster.
14. 91:14
    • The speaker is God, who says that because the man has clung to Him in love, He will rescue him.
    • God says He will set the man on high.
    • God says the reason is that the man has known His name.
15. 91:15
    • God says the man will call upon Him.
    • God says He will answer him.
    • God says He will be with him in trouble.
    • God says He will deliver him.
    • God says He will honor him.
16. 91:16
    • God says He will satisfy him with length of days.
    • God says He will show him His salvation.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

91:1

"Most High" and "Almighty" translate two old Hebrew titles for God, Elyon and Shaddai, both used in the oldest layers of Israel's poetry. "Secret place" renders a word for a hiding place or covert, the kind of concealed spot where someone takes cover; some hear in it the inner rooms of the temple. "Shadow" is not gloom but shade: in a hot country, being in someone's shadow meant being sheltered by them, and a king's or a god's "shadow" was a standard image for protection.

91:2

Printed as LORD in capitals, this stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters usually written YHWH. Jewish readers said "the Lord" aloud in its place, and English Bibles follow that custom by printing the substitute word in capitals. "Fortress" is a military word, a stronghold or mountain refuge, a place too steep or strong to be taken.

91:3

A fowler was a professional bird catcher, who worked with hidden nets and spring traps rather than weapons. The point of the image is that the danger is concealed and the victim walks into it without seeing it.

91:4

The bird imagery is of a parent bird sheltering chicks under its body; the same picture is used elsewhere of an eagle over its young. "Truth" here does not mean accurate statements, the Hebrew word means reliability, keeping faith, being someone who can be depended on. "Shield and buckler" are two different pieces of equipment: a small hand-held shield and a large one, tall enough to stand behind like a wall.

91:5

"The terror by night" and "the arrow that flieth by day" form a pair covering the whole twenty-four hours. Ancient readers could hear both literally (night raids, real arrows) and as hidden causes of harm, sudden illness or death was often spoken of as arrows shot by a god. The Hebrew leaves both readings open.

91:6

The four dangers of verses 5 and 6 pair night with day twice over. "Pestilence" is epidemic disease; "the destruction that wasteth at noonday" translates a rare Hebrew word for a sudden ruinous blow, sometimes linked to the killing midday heat. The ancient Greek translation read these lines as naming demons, and the "noonday demon" became a fixed phrase in later writing, a sign of how open the Hebrew wording is.

91:7

A thousand and ten thousand are a standard poetic pair in Hebrew, the second number stepping up from the first; they mean an overwhelming number rather than a count. The right hand is the side left uncovered by a shield carried in the left, so "at thy right hand" names the exposed and vulnerable side.

91:8

"Reward" in 1611 English meant whatever a person had coming to them, good or bad, here it is punishment, not a prize. The line pictures the reader as an onlooker who sees the outcome without being caught up in it.

91:9

The Hebrew of this verse shifts speaker mid-sentence ("the LORD, who is my refuge") and translators disagree about who is talking to whom, which is why English versions arrange the line differently. Some read it as the psalm's second voice breaking in; some as the reader repeating the confession of verse 2.

91:10

"Plague" translates a word meaning a blow or stroke, used both for disaster in general and specifically for skin disease thought to be sent as a judgment. "Dwelling" is literally "tent," an old word for a household's living space that stayed in use long after people lived in houses.

91:11

The Hebrew word behind "angels" simply means messengers; it is used of human envoys as well as of God's heavenly servants. "Give charge" means issue orders, the picture is of a commander assigning guards to escort someone.

91:12

The setting is travel on foot over rocky ground, where a stubbed or broken foot could end a journey. The image is of attendants steadying a walker over stones, not of rescue from a fall.

91:13

Four creatures, named by four different Hebrew words. The two lion words distinguish a full-grown lion from a young one already hunting. "Adder" is a cobra, a snake known for a bite that kills quickly. "Dragon" translates a word used for a large snake or a monster of the sea and rivers, the same word used elsewhere of the crocodile-like beasts of chaos; it does not mean the fire-breathing dragon of later European stories. To set your foot on a defeated enemy was the standard gesture of victory.

91:14

God is now the speaker, answering the psalm. To "know someone's name" in Hebrew meant far more than knowing what to call them: it meant knowing who they are and having a recognized claim on them. "Set him on high" is a single verb meaning to put something up out of reach, as a stronghold sits above the plain.

91:15

To "call upon" God means to cry out to him for help. To "honour" someone was to treat them as important in front of everybody.

91:16

"Long life" is literally "length of days," the ordinary Hebrew way of speaking of a full lifespan; a long life ending in old age was the mark of a life that had gone well. "Salvation" here translates a word meaning rescue or deliverance from concrete danger (enemies, illness, disaster), rather than a state after death.