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Selected Verse: Psalms 121:5 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 121:5 |
King James |
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| upon thy right hand--a protector's place (Psa 109:31; Psa 110:5). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The Lord is thy keeper - Thy Preserver; thy Defender. He will keep time from danger; he will keep thee from sin; he will keep thee unto salvation.
The Lord is thy shade - The Lord is as a shadow: as the shadow of a rock, a house, or a tree, in the intense rays of the burning sun. See the notes at Isa 25:4.
Upon thy right hand - See Psa 16:8; Psa 109:31. Perhaps the particular allusion to the right hand here may be that that was the place of a protector. He would thus be at hand, or would be ready to interpose in defense of him whom he was to guard. It is possible, however, that the idea here may be derived from the fact that in Scripture the geographer is represented as looking to the east, and not toward the north, as with us. Hence, the south is always spoken of as the right, or at the right hand (compare the notes at Psa 89:12); and as the intense rays of the sun are from the south, the idea may be, that God would be as a shade in the direction from which those burning rays came. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
That which holds good of "the Keeper of Israel" the poet applies believingly to himself, the individual among God's people, in Psa 121:5 after Gen 28:15. Jahve is his Keeper, He is his shade upon his right hand (היּמין as in Jdg 20:16; Sa2 20:9, and frequently; the construct state instead of an apposition, cf. e.g., Arab. jânbu 'l-grbı̂yi, the side of the western = the western side), which protecting him and keeping him fresh and cool, covers him from the sun's burning heat. על, as in Psa 109:6; Psa 110:5, with the idea of an overshadowing that screens and spreads itself out over anything (cf. Num 14:9). To the figure of the shadow is appended the consolation in Psa 121:6. הכּה of the sun signifies to smite injuriously (Isa 49:10), plants, so that they wither (Psa 102:5), and the head (Jon 4:8), so that symptoms of sun-stroke (Kg2 4:19, Judith 8:2f.) appears. The transferring of the word of the moon is not zeugmatic. Even the moon's rays may become insupportable, may affect the eyes injuriously, and (more particularly in the equatorial regions) produce fatal inflammation of the brain.
(Note: Many expositors, nevertheless, understand the destructive influence of the moon meant here of the nightly cold, which is mentioned elsewhere in the same antithesis. Gen 31:40; Jer 36:30. De Sacy observes also: On dit quelquefois d'un grand froid, comme d'un grand chaud, qu'il est brulant. The Arabs also say of snow and of cold as of fire: jaḥrik, it burns.)
From the hurtful influences of nature that are round about him the promise extends in Psa 121:7-8 in every direction. Jahve, says the poet to himself, will keep (guard) thee against all evil, of whatever kind it may be and whencesoever it may threaten; He will keep thy soul, and therefore thy life both inwardly and outwardly; He will keep (ישׁמר־, cf. on the other hand ישׁפּט־ in Psa 9:9) thy going out and coming in, i.e., all thy business and intercourse of life (Deu 28:6, and frequently); for, as Chrysostom observes, ἐν τούτοις ὁ βίος ἅπας, ἐν εἰσόδοις καὶ ἐξόδοις, therefore: everywhere and at all times; and that from this time forth even for ever. In connection with this the thought is natural, that the life of him who stands under the so universal and unbounded protection of eternal love can suffer no injury. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Shade - To keep thee from the burning heat of the sun. |
5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
30 Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.
19 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
9 And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him.
16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.