3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, And from the deadly pestilence.
Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare. The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Who gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields; So that he sets up on high those who are low, Those who mourn are exalted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise. He takes the wise in their own craftiness; The counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the day-time, And grope at noonday as in the night. But he saves from the sword of their mouth, Even the needy from the hand of the mighty. So the poor has hope, And injustice shuts her mouth. "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For he wounds, and binds up; He injures, and his hands make whole. He will deliver you in six troubles; Yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death; In war, from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, Neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, Neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, From the traps of the workers of iniquity.
even those men who did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, Like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Until an arrow strikes through his liver, As a bird hurries to the snare, And doesn't know that it will cost his life.
A prophet watches over Ephraim with my God. A fowler's snare is on all of his paths, And hostility in the house of his God.
But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
Moses said to Aaron, Take your censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from Yahweh; the plague is begun. Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting [or] mildew, locust [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there be;
Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, Where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, When there is nothing to catch?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 91
Commentary on Psalms 91 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 91
Ps 91:1-16. David is the most probable author; and the pestilence, mentioned in 2Sa 24:13-15, the most probable of any special occasion to which the Psalm may refer. The changes of person allowable in poetry are here frequently made.
1. dwelleth in the secret place—(Ps 27:5; 31:20) denotes nearness to God. Such as do so abide or lodge secure from assaults, and can well use the terms of trust in Ps 91:2.
3. snares … [and] … noisome pestilence—literally, "plagues of mischiefs" (Ps 5:9; 52:7), are expressive figures for various evils.
4. For the first figure compare De 32:11; Mt 23:37.
buckler—literally, "surrounding"—that is, a kind of shield covering all over.
5. terror—or, what causes it (Pr 20:2).
by night—then aggravated.
arrow—that is, of enemies.
7, 8. The security is more valuable, as being special, and, therefore, evidently of God; and while ten thousands of the wicked fall, the righteous are in such safety that they only see the calamity.
9-12. This exemption from evil is the result of trust in God, who employs angels as ministering spirits (Heb 1:14).
13. Even the fiercest, strongest, and most insidious animals may be trampled on with impunity.
14-16. God Himself speaks (compare Ps 46:10; 75:2, 3). All the terms to express safety and peace indicate the most undoubting confidence (compare Ps 18:2; 20:1; 22:5).
set his love—that of the most ardent kind.
16. show him—literally, "make him see" (Ps 50:23; Lu 2:30).