Psalm 91 redux

I was looking at the NET Bible online and found that their text and notes for Psalm 91 offer up a possible explanation for the structure of verses 1-2 that I discussed below. First, verses 1-3 in the NET translation:

As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the sovereign One, and resides in the protective shadow of the mighty king – I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold, my God in whom I trust – he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter and from the destructive plague.

In this translation, verse 2 (”I say this…”) is set apart from the text as an aside from the narrator, while vss 1 and 3 use the second-person “you” to speak to the reader. The footnotes state that in “this psalm an individual (perhaps a priest) addresses one who has sought shelter in the Lord and assures him that God will protect him from danger.” If this is the case, then none of the primary translations I considered really hit the mark. The NLTse and HCSB make the switch to first-person in v2, but these opening passages still remain an odd jumble of first-, second- and third-person voices. The NET is consistent between v1 and the rest of the psalm, and uses effective structural markers to set v2 apart.

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2 Trackbacks

  1. By Psalm 91:1-2 « He is Sufficient on May 23, 2007 at 10:08 am

    [...] Please see Psalm 91 Redux for some addition comments on this post based on the NET [...]

  2. By Psalm 91, Part 4 « He is sufficient on October 3, 2007 at 12:03 pm

    [...] in Psalm 23 prompted me to dredge up my previous posts on the opening verses of Psalm 91 (see here, here and here) and take another look. These are the relevant examples from my previous looks at verses [...]

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