Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 3 is the first explicitly-Davidic psalm (superscription v. 1) and the first of thirteen psalms tied to specific David-narrative episodes — here David's flight from Absalom (2 Sam 15). The psalm is a morning lament and confidence-declaration. The 'salvation belongs to the LORD' conclusion (v. 9 MT / v. 8 English) becomes a standing biblical formula.
Notable Variants
The superscription-as-verse-1 Hebrew convention (so Hebrew 3:1 is the heading, 3:2 the first content verse, etc.); MT/LXX/English verse-number offset throughout Psalms that have superscriptions.
Structural Notes
LXX Psalm 3 has 9 verses matching Hebrew MT numbering. English versions typically drop the superscription from the verse count, so English 3:1 = Hebrew/LXX 3:2. TCR preserves MT numbering.
A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
The superscription 'Psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom' tracks MT. In Hebrew and LXX this counts as verse 1; in most English translations it is treated as a heading outside the verse-count.
The 2 Samuel 15–19 Absalom-rebellion narrative is the superscription's historical frame. The psalm reads Davidic-biographically.
O LORD, how many are my enemies! Many are rising against me.
'Many are my enemies' opening lament tracks MT. The emphatic repetition of rabbim ('many') three times in vv. 2–3 dramatizes the overwhelming opposition.
Many are saying about me, "There is no deliverance for him from God." Selah.
'No deliverance from God' enemy-speech tracks MT. The theological-taunt that God cannot save is the paradigmatic false-faith that Psalms repeatedly refute. Jesus' Matthew 27:43 ('he trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him') preserves this same enemy-psychology at the cross. 'Selah' — a liturgical-musical term of uncertain meaning — is preserved in LXX as diapsalma ('pause'/'interlude').
But You, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head.
'Shield around me, glory, lifter of my head' tracks MT. The 'lifter of the head' (hypsōn tēn kephalēn mou) is the God-as-restorer-of-dignity image. The 'shield' (hyperaspistēs) language recurs in the NT-Pauline 'shield of faith' (Eph 6:16).
With my voice I cry out to the LORD, and He answers me from His holy mountain. Selah.
'He answers me from his holy mountain' tracks MT. The holy-mountain-as-prayer-answering-place is Zion-temple theology.
I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustains me.
Masoretic (WLC)
אֲנִי שָׁכַבְתִּי וָאִישָׁנָה הֱקִיצוֹתִי כִּי יְהוָה יִסְמְכֵנִי
I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustains me
Septuagint (LXX)
ἐγὼ ἐκοιμήθην καὶ ὕπνωσα ἐξηγέρθην ὅτι κύριος ἀντιλήμψεταί μου
I lay down and slept; I rose again, because the Lord will help me
Patristic tradition read this verse Christologically as a prophecy of Christ's death-and-resurrection: 'I lay down and slept' (the crucifixion-and-burial); 'I rose again' (exēgerthēn — the same verb used for the resurrection). The vocabulary-accident is exegetically suggestive.
Origen, Augustine, and later Christian liturgical tradition all deploy Psalm 3:6 as a proto-resurrection text. The 'I laid me down and slept; I awaked' became a standing Christian evening-and-morning prayer formula.
I will not fear the tens of thousands of people who have positioned themselves against me on every side.
'Tens of thousands' (myriades) enemy-confidence tracks MT.
Rise up, O LORD! Save me, my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the jaw; You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
'Struck all my enemies on the jaw; shattered the teeth of the wicked' tracks MT. The enemy-disarming imagery becomes metaphorically-spiritualized in later tradition: the LORD silences the false-speech of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the LORD; Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah.
Masoretic (WLC)
לַיהוָה הַיְשׁוּעָה
Salvation belongs to the LORD
Septuagint (LXX)
τοῦ κυρίου ἡ σωτηρία
Salvation is the Lord's
'Salvation belongs to the LORD' — one of the Hebrew Bible's programmatic theological statements. Jonah 2:9 (kyriou sōtēria) cites this exact phrase. Revelation 7:10 ('Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,' hē sōtēria tō theō hēmōn) echoes the formula eschatologically.
The 'sōtēria' vocabulary — the LXX's standard 'salvation' — is the NT's core soteriological category. The LXX-Psalms establish the vocabulary field.