the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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King James Version
Psalms 3:2
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Many are saying of my soul,"There is no salvation for him in God." Selah.
Many are saying of my soul, "There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.
Many say of my soule: there is no saluation for it in God. Selah.
Many say of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. Selah.
Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God."Selah
Many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. Selah.
They say to themselves, "God will not rescue him!" Selah
Many there are who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
Many there bee which say of my soule, There is no helpe for him in God. Selah.
Yee many one there be that saye off my soule: there is no helpe for him in God.
Many there are that say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah
Unnumbered are those who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. (Selah.)
Many there are that say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
Many [there are] who say of my soul, [There is] no help for him in God. Selah.
Many say about me, "God will not deliver him." (Selah)
me and say, "God won't rescue you!"
Adonai , how many enemies I have! How countless are those attacking me;
Many say to my soule, There is no helpe for him in God. Selah.
Many there are that say to my soul, You have no salvation in your God.
Many are saying of me, "There is no help [no salvation] for him in God." Selah.
Many there are who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
LORD, how many are mine adversaries become! Many are they that rise up against me.
So many are saying, "God will never rescue him!" Interlude
Many are saying of me, "There is no help for him in God."
Many say concerning my soul, There is no deliverance for him in his God. Pause.
Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah
Many say of me, "God will not deliver him." Selah
many are saying to me, "There is no help for you in God." Selah
Multitudes, are saying of my soul, - No salvation for him in God. Selah.
Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God.
Many are saying about my soul, "There is no deliverance for him from God. Selah
many are saying of my soul, "There is no salvation for him in God." Selah
Many are saying of my soul, "There is no salvation for him in God." Selah
Many are saying about me, "God won't rescue him." Selah
They talk about me and say, "God will not help him."
Many say about me, "There is no help for him in God."
Lord, whi ben thei multiplied that disturblen me?
Many are saying of my soul, `There is no salvation for him in God.' Selah.
many are saying of me, there is no help for him in God. [Selah]
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Cross-References
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Many [there be] which say of my soul,.... Or "to my soul" u, the following cutting words, which touched to the quick, reached his very heart, and like a sword pierced through it:
[there is] no help for him in God; or "no salvation" w: neither in this world, nor in that which is to come, as Kimchi explains it. David's enemies looked upon his case to be desperate; that it was impossible he should ever extricate himself from it; yea, that God himself either could not or would not save him. And in like manner did the enemies of Christ say, when they had put him upon the cross; see
Matthew 27:43; and how frequent is it for the men of the world to represent the saints as in a damnable state! and to call them a damned set and generation of men, as if there was no salvation for them? and how often does Satan suggest unto them, that there is no hope for them, and they may as well indulge themselves in all sinful lusts and pleasures? and how often do their own unbelieving hearts say to them, that there is no salvation in Christ for them, though there is for others; and that they have no interest in the favour of God, and shall be eternally lost and perish? And this account is concluded with the word
selah, which some take to be a musical note; and so the Septuagint render it διαψαλμα, which Suidas x interprets the change of the song, of the note or tune of it; and the rather it may be thought to be so, since it is only used in this book of Psalms, and in the prayer of Habakkuk, which was set to a tune, and directed to the chief singer. Kimchi derives it from a root which signifies "to lift up", and supposes that it denotes and directs to an elevation, or straining of the voice, at the place where this word stands. Others understand it as a pause, a full stop for a while; and as a note of attention, either to something that is remarkably bad and distressing, as here; or remarkably good, and matter of rejoicing, as in Psalms 3:4. Others consider it as an affirmation of the truth of anything, good or bad; and render it "verily", "truly", as, answering to "Amen"; so be it, so it is, or shall be; it is the truth of the thing: to this sense agrees Aben Ezra. But others render it "for ever", as the Chaldee paraphrase; and it is a tradition of the Jews y, that wherever it is said, "netzach", "selah", and "ed", there is no ceasing, it is for ever and ever; and so then, according to this rule, the sense of David's enemies is, that there was no help for him in God for ever. A very learned man z has wrote a dissertation upon this word; in which he endeavours to prove, that it is a name of God, differently used, either in the vocative, genitive, and dative cases; as, O Selah, O God, or of God, or to God, c. as the sense requires.
u לנפשי τη ψυχη μου, Sept. "animae meae", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis so the Targum. w אין ישועתה "non est salus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; "non ulla salus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Ainsworth. x In voce διαψ. y T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 54. 1. Vid. Ben Melech in loc. z Paschii Dissertatio de Selah, p. 670. in Thesaur. Theolog. Philolog. par. 1.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Many there be which say of my soul - Or rather, perhaps, of his “life,” for so the word used here - נפשׁ nephesh - frequently means Leviticus 17:11; Deuteronomy 12:23; Genesis 9:4; Genesis 35:18; 1 Kings 17:21. The object of their persecution, as here stated, was not his soul, as such, in the sense in which we now understand the word, but his life; and they now said that they were secure of that, and that all things indicated that God would not now interfere to save him. They were perfectly sure of their prey. Compare 2 Samuel 17:1-4.
There is no help for him in God - He is entirely forsaken. He has no power of defending himself, and no hope of escaping from us now, and all the indications are, that God does not intend to interpose and deliver him. Circumstances, in the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 16:1 ff), were such as to seem to justify this taunt. David had been driven away from his throne and his capital. God had not protected him when he had his armed men and his friends around him, and when he was entrenched in a strong city; and now he was a forsaken fugitive, fleeing almost alone, and seeking a place of safety. If God had not defended him on his throne and in his capital; if he had suffered him to be driven away without interposing to save him, much less was there reason to suppose that he would now interpose in his behalf; and hence, they exultingly said that there was no hope for his life, even in that God in whom he had trusted. It is no uncommon thing in this world for good men to be in similar circumstances of trial, when they seem to be so utterly forsaken by God as well as men, that their foes exultingly say they are entirely abandoned.
Selah - סלה selâh. Much has been written on this word, and still its meaning does not appear to be wholly determined. It is rendered in the Targum, or Aramaic Paraphrase, לעלמין le‛alemiyn, forever, or to eternity. In the Latin Vulgate it is omitted, as if it were no part of the text. In the Septuagint it is rendered Διάψαλμα Diapsalma, supposed to refer to some variation or modulation of the voice in singing. Sehleusner, Lexicon. The word occurs seventy-one times in the Psalms, and three times in the Book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk 3:3, Habakkuk 3:9, Habakkuk 3:13. It is never translated in our version, but in all these places the original word “Selah” is retained. It occurs only in poetry, and is supposed to have had some reference to the singing or cantillation of the poetry, and to be probably a musical term. In general, also, it indicates a pause in the sense, as well as in the musical performance. Gesenius (Lexicon) supposes that the most probable meaning of this musical term or note is silence, or pause, and that its use was, in chanting the words of the psalm, to direct the singer to be silent, to pause a little, while the instruments played an interlude or harmony.
Perhaps this is all that can now be known of the meaning of the word, and this is enough to satisfy every reasonable inquiry. It is probable, if this was the use of the term, that it would commonly correspond with the sense of the passage, and be inserted where the sense made a pause suitable; and this will doubtless be found usually to be the fact. But any one acquainted at all with the character of musical notation will perceive at once that we are not to suppose that this would be invariably or necessarily the fact, for the musical pauses by no means always correspond with pauses in the sense. This word, therefore, can furnish very little assistance in determining the meaning of the passages where it is found. Ewald supposes, differing from this view, that it rather indicates that in the places where it occurs the voice is to be raised, and that it is synonymous with up, higher, loud, or distinct, from סל sal, סלה sâlâh, to ascend. Those who are disposed to inquire further respecting its meaning, and the uses of musical pauses in general, may be referred to Ugolin, ‘Thesau. Antiq. Sacr.,’ tom. xxii.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 3:2. No help for him in God. — These were some of the reproaches of his enemies, Shimei and others: "He is now down, and he shall never be able to rise. God alone can save him from these his enemies; but God has visibly cast him off." These reproaches deeply affected his heart; and he mentions them with that note which so frequently occurs in the Psalms, and which occurs here for the first time, סלה selah. Much has been said on the meaning of this word; and we have nothing but conjecture to guide us. The Septuagint always translate it by Διαψαλμα diapsalma, "a pause in the Psalm." The Chaldee sometimes translates it by לעלמין lealmin, "for ever." The rest of the versions leave it unnoticed. It either comes from סל sal, to raise or elevate, and may denote a particular elevation in the voices of the performers, which is very observable in the Jewish singing to the present day; or it may come from סלה salah, to strew or spread out, intimating that the subject to which the word is attached should be spread out, meditated on, and attentively considered by the reader. Fenwick, Parkhurst, and Dodd, contend for this meaning; and think "it confirmed by Psalms 9:16, where the word higgaion is put before selah, at the end of the verse." Now higgaion certainly signifies meditation, or a fit subject for meditation; and so shows selah to be really a nota bene, attend to or mind this.
