Psalm 17:5-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 17:5 tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.
2. Psalm 17:5 tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”
3. Psalm 17:6 tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”
4. Psalm 17:6 tn Heb “my word.”
5. Psalm 17:7 tn Heb “Set apart faithful acts.”
6. Psalm 17:7 tn Heb “[O] one who delivers those who seek shelter from the ones raising themselves up, by your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver.sn Those who look to you for protection from their enemies. “Seeking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).