Psalms 91:6-16

6 of a goblin going in darknesses; of assailing, and of a midday fiend. (Nor the pestilence going in darkness; nor the assailing of the plague at midday.)

7 A thousand shall fall down from thy side, and ten thousand from thy right side; forsooth it shall not nigh to thee. (A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right side; but it shall not come even close to thee.)

8 Nevertheless thou shalt behold with thine eyes; and thou shalt see the yielding of sinners. (Nevertheless thou shalt see with thine eyes; yea, thou shalt see the punishment of the sinners.)

9 For thou, Lord, art mine hope; thou hast set thine help (to be the) alder-Highest. (For thou hast made the Lord to be thy hope; yea, the Most High to be thy help.)

10 Evil shall not come to thee; and a scourge shall not (come) nigh to thy tabernacle.

11 For God hath commanded to his angels of thee; that they keep thee in all thy ways. (For God hath commanded his angels to be all around thee; so that they keep thee safe on all thy ways.)

12 They shall bear thee in the hands; lest peradventure thou hurt thy foot at a stone. (They shall lift thee up with their hands; lest thou hurt thy foot on a stone.)

13 Thou shalt go upon a snake, and a cockatrice; and thou shalt defoul a lion, and a dragon (and thou shalt trample upon a lion, and a dragon).

14 (For God saith,) For he hoped in me, I shall deliver him (For God saith, Because he loved me, I shall save him); I shall defend him, for he knew my name.

15 He cried to me, and I shall hear him; I am with him in tribulation; I shall deliver him, and I shall glorify him. (When he crieth to me, I shall answer him; I shall be with him in all his troubles; I shall rescue him, and I shall honour him.)

16 I shall [ful]fill him with the length of days; and I shall show mine health to him. (I shall fulfill him with length of days, that is, with a long life; and I shall give my salvation, or my deliverance, to him/and I shall save him.)

Psalms 91:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 91

Jarchi and others think this psalm was written by Moses {m}, as was the preceding; but the Targum ascribes it to David; as do the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; and very probably, as is generally thought, was penned by him on occasion of the pestilence which came upon the people, through his numbering of them, 2Sa 24:1. The person all along spoken of, and to, according to the Targum, is Solomon his son; and, according to the title in the Syriac version, King Hezekiah, so Theodoret, who is called the son of David; neither of which are probable. Some think the Messiah is meant; and that the psalm contains promises of protection and safety to him, as man, from diseases, beasts of prey, evil spirits, and wicked men, under the care of angels; and this not because that Satan has applied one of these promises to him, Mt 4:6, but because they seem better to agree with him than with any other: and one part of the title of the psalm, in the Syriac version, runs thus,

``and spiritually it is called the victory of the Messiah, and of everyone that is perfected by him.''

It seems best to understand it of every godly man, who is always safe under the divine protection. The Talmudisis {n} call it Myegp ryv, "a song of the occursions", or "meetings with evil spirits."