Loading the studies…

Psalm 91

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Under the shadow of Shaddai

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of Shaddai. 2 I will say to Yahweh, "My refuge and my fortress, my Elohim, in whom I trust."

3 For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the destroying pestilence. 4 He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will take refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. 5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 For You, Yahweh, are my refuge! You have made the Most High your dwelling place. 10 No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your tent. 11 For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you up, so that your foot does not stumble against a stone. 13 You will tread on the fierce lion and the cobra; you will trample the young lion and the serpent.

Because he has set his love on Me

14 Because he has set his love on Me, I will rescue him; I will set him on high, because he knows My name. 15 He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With length of days I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.

Notes

  • 91:1 Psalm 91 has no title in the Hebrew. In its first two verses Elohim is called by four names: the Most High (Elyon), Shaddai (see the note at Job 5:17), Yahweh, and "my Elohim." "Shelter" is seter, a hidden place, and "abide" is lin, to lodge for the night (as in 30:5): the one who trusts finds his night's lodging in the shade of Shaddai. The voices change through the psalm: someone speaks of the one who dwells there (verse 1), then says "I" (verse 2), then speaks to "you" (verses 3-13), and at the end Yahweh Himself answers (verses 14-16). Verse 9 joins the voices: "For You, Yahweh, are my refuge!" and then, to "you," "You have made the Most High your dwelling place," with the same word (ma'on) that opens Psalm 90.
  • 91:4 "Pinions" is evrah, the word in Moses' song of the eagle over its young: "He carried him on His pinions" (Deuteronomy 32:11); "under His wings" is the refuge Boaz spoke of to Ruth, "under whose wings you have come to take refuge" (Ruth 2:12). "Shield" (tsinnah) is probably the large shield that covers the whole body; "bulwark" (socherah) is found only here, and its exact sense is uncertain. The dangers of verses 3-6 fill both night and day: the fowler's snare, pestilence, terror and arrow. The ancient Greek translation reads the end of verse 6 as "the demon of noonday," and Jewish readers came to use the psalm against evil spirits: a Dead Sea scroll copied around the time of Yeshua (11Q11) sets Psalm 91 after songs of that kind.
  • 91:11 Yahweh's "angels" (malakhim, messengers; compare 34:7) guard the one who trusts Him "in all your ways." When the devil set Yeshua on the pinnacle of the temple, he quoted verses 11-12 to urge Him to throw Himself down (Matthew 4:6; Luke 4:10-11), leaving out "in all your ways." Yeshua answered from Deuteronomy 6:16: "You shall not test Yahweh your Elohim." The promise is for one who walks in Yahweh's ways and trusts Him, not a warrant to put Him to the test; and the psalm does not promise a life without trouble, but Yahweh's presence in it (verse 15).
  • 91:14 In verses 14-16 Yahweh Himself speaks. "Set his love" is chashak, a love that clings and longs, the word Moses used of Yahweh's love for Israel: "Yahweh set His love on you and chose you" (Deuteronomy 7:7; see the note at 7:8). To "know" His name is to know Him as He has made Himself known, and so to call on Him (verse 15). The promises pile up: rescue, safety on high, an answer, His presence in trouble, deliverance, honor, length of days and salvation. Verse 15 echoes 50:15, "I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

Psalm 90 · Psalm 92

Open in the study app