1.     He presides in supreme concealment:

         who can bide in Shaddai’s shadow!

2.     Yet I will say of the Lord, my refuge,

         my fortress, my God in whom I trust:

 

3.     “From the fowler’s snare he will free you;

         from unrelenting pestilence.

4.     With his pinions he will guard you,

         grant you shelter beneath his wings:

         his truth is shield and buckler.

5.     You need not dread the fearful night,

         the arrow’s path of flight by day,

6.     pestilence that moves in gloom,

         or noontime’s searing devastation;

7.     though a thousand fall around you,

         even ten thousand to your right,

         none of this shall befall you—

8.     but keep your eyes sharp about you:

         see the wicked’s recompense.”

 

9.     Lord, I hold you as my haven,

         your habitation placed on high.

 

10.  “Calamity will not assail you,

         nor will scourge approach your dwelling —

11.  he will charge his angels with vigilance

         over you and all your paths.

12.  They shall bear you on their palms:

         your feet will not be maimed by stone;

13.  you will tread on asp and lion,

         trample lion-cub and serpent.”

                               *

14.   He chooses me, thus I secure him;

         exalt him who acclaimed my name.

15.   When he calls me I will answer,

         be with him in troubled times;

         rescue him, accord him honor,

16.   satisfy him with long life.

         I will manifest myself

         to him by means of my salvation.

—translated by Seree Cohen Zohar

Seree Cohen Zohar is a translator and lecturer who lives in Israel. She collaborated with the late poet Allan Sullivan on a new verse translation of the Psalms, which will be published later this year by the Fort Mandan Foundation’s Dakota Institute Press.
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Published in the May 18, 2012 issue: View Contents

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