By means of six metaphors the verse describes Yahweh’s protection: (1) rock, that is, a boulder or large rock, a place where one can defend oneself (see also 31.2; 42.9; 71.3); (2) fortress (also 31.2, 3; 71.3; 91.2; 144.2), a place that cannot be conquered; it may be a natural formation such as a circle of large rocks, or it may be one built as a defense against enemy forces; (3) rock (another word, which occurs very frequently in Psalms; Dahood prefers the meaning “my mountain”); here it is probably a synonym of the first word; (4) shield: see description at 3.3; (5) the horn of my salvation: a metaphor for strength and power (see 72.4, 5), used of God only here and in 2 Samuel 22.3 (see also Luke 1.69), probably owing its meaning to the horns of a bull (New Jerusalem Bible translates “my mighty champion”); of my salvation can be rendered “that saves me”; (6) stronghold: see comments at 9.9; a place of safety, either natural (like a cave) or man-made.

It is possible to consider and my deliverer as the second line and The LORD is my rock, and my fortress as the first line. In this case my deliverer makes specific what is called my rock and my fortress in the first line. The second set of parallel lines in verse 2 is completely static, in that there is only a piling up of “strength” images, and, as suggested above, the psalmist has reserved this device for the opening and closing of the psalm. Good News Translation has not managed to keep my deliverer and has therefore lost part of the parallelism. The static nature of the parallelism is reflected in Good News Translation, which uses two images, “fortress” and “shield,” and reduces the others to “protector,” “protection,” “safe,” “protects,” and “defends.”

There are two nonmetaphors: my deliverer (see comments on the verb in 7.1; 17.13) and I take refuge (see comments in 2.12).

Good News Translation uses figurative and nonfigurative language: metaphor (“strong fortress”), simile (“like a shield”), abstract noun (“my protection”), descriptive title (“my protector”), and verbal phrases (“defends me and keeps me safe”). Variety of expression and clarity of meaning, in poetic form, should be the aim.

In this verse there are five choices the translator must face: (a) to keep the literal translation of the Hebrew, if and only if the meanings are clear and the figures natural; (b) to substitute other known figures from the receptor language; (c) to keep the figure, but modified to a simile, explaining its meaning through the introduction of a verb; (d) to replace the figures with nonfigurative expressions; or finally (e) to combine two or more of the foregoing. Some examples are “The LORD protects me like a rock and a fortress,” or “The LORD guards me as a rock or fortress protects people,” or “My God, you are like a rock which defends me,” or “You defend me like a shield.”

Horn of my salvation denoted the place a person could obtain asylum or protection from enemies. This expression can almost never be translated literally without providing the reader with detailed explanations. It is best to follow solution (d) above, using a nonfigurative expression as in Good News Translation; for example, “he saves me from my enemies” or “he keeps my enemies from harming me.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .