Surely *he* shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, [and] from the destructive pestilence.
In verse 2 someone calls the Lord his refuge. Verse 3 is the reply: a promise of rescue from a hidden trap and a deadly disease. Two questions follow — who speaks the promise, and who receives it.
Older translations open verse 3 with "Surely." Writers read the verse as another speaker's reply to that trust. One writer maps the psalm as a conversation between the Messiah, the Spirit, the faithful few of Israel, and the Lord:
Verse 1: Whoever takes the secret place gets the might of the Almighty. Verse 2: Messiah says, I will take Jehovah as my refuge, etc. Verse 3: The Spirit declares the consequences of this. In verse 9 the remnant address Messiah. In verse 14 Jehovah comes in, and sets His seal on the whole.
Commentators differ over who speaks. William Kelly reads verses 3 to 13 as the words of the faithful few of Israel, not of the Spirit. They answer Christ's trust in the Lord by declaring that He is safe from all evil.
A fowler is a bird-catcher. His trap catches because the bird never sees it.
That is what makes a snare dangerous: it does not look like one. A pestilence is dangerous in another way — it spreads, and among believers what spreads is false teaching:
Does not a snare represent evil hidden under a fair exterior? The apostle Paul warns us against being taken in by "enticing words" (Col. 2:4), and says that some in the professing Christian circle will be caught "in the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:26). The apostle Peter warns that among the saints some will "secretly bring in destructive heresies" (2 Peter 2:1). Was it not a "snare" the Lord had to meet when wicked men tried "to catch Him in His words"? They came to Him with flattery: "Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion… but truly teach the way of God." Was it not a "destructive pestilence" He had to meet when the Sadducees argued there is "no resurrection"?… Whatever our knowledge and gifts, unless we are in secret communion — abiding in Christ — there is no snare we cannot fall into.
The devil quoted this very psalm to Jesus in the wilderness, which is why writers see the fowler at work there in the plainest way:
Satan is very wise. He is very crafty. If you foil the enemy once by dependence upon God he will still come back to you. If he does not get in at the front door, he will come again and try to enter by the back door. And what will he come with next time? Very likely a text, since he finds that you believe in Scripture… If I might so say, here, in this wilderness episode, is the fowler seen spreading a snare.
The same writer calls the devil's use of verses 11 and 12 a "mangled quotation." The devil left out the words "in all your ways," so the promise covers the path of obedience, not a leap taken in self-will.
The pestilence stands for what would stain a man. One writer shows how the Lord passed through it untouched:
Think of that sinless perfect Man, with corruption and evil around Him on every hand. How glad we are to know that He left this world as sinless and as perfect as when He entered it. Nothing of the world's corruption or sin could leave a mark on this blessed Man. His every confidence was in God… At His birth He came in without defect, and in His pathway He passed through without a stain.
The promise reaches ordinary believers too. One writer looks at a weak believer who got free, and finds two things in his ways:
Let me just notice how this poor weak one of God broke the snare of the fowler. We see two things in his ways. First, he followed the light honestly and faithfully, as it was given to him and as it shone in him more and more clearly. Second, he simply pleaded the works and ways of Jesus, his Deliverer and Friend, against all the suggestions of the enemy. This was his security, and it is ours too, whether Satan presses us or entangles us.
The verse is not a guarantee that a Christian will be spared every hardship:
God as a Father watches over us, but that does not mean we shall always escape suffering. We have something better than a promise of that kind. We may indeed pass through the fire, but not a hair of our head shall perish. In this psalm the promise is personal deliverance, and if we look for that we shall make terrible mistakes.
- Trust answered. Verse 2 speaks trust; verse 3 answers with a promise. Commentators differ only over who replies — the Spirit or the faithful few of Israel.
- Trap named. The fowler stands for Satan. A snare is evil hidden under a fair exterior: flattering words, a half-quoted text, teaching that spreads like disease.
- Trap sprung. In the wilderness the devil quoted this psalm itself, but left out "in all your ways." The promise covers obedience, not self-will.
- Trap broken. Knowledge and gifts keep no one. Deliverance comes by abiding in Christ, following the light honestly, and pleading the works and ways of Jesus against the enemy.
- Trap survived. Christ passed through a corrupt world without a stain. For us the promise is keeping through the fire, not escape from it.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou find refuge his truth is a shield and buckler.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, for the arrow that flieth by day,
Psalm 91 promises safety to anyone who makes God his refuge, and verse 5 names two of the dangers he will still meet. The promise is not that the arrows stop flying, but that he will not be afraid.
One writer works out who is speaking here, and how far the promises reach.
Who is this supreme God over all the earth? Who will find His secret place to live in? Almighty power will completely protect the one who has found it. Messiah (Jesus) says, I will take the God of Israel as that place, Jehovah. In verses 3–8 we have the answer. No doubt this is true of every godly Israelite, and they are in view. But they are led by the Spirit of Jesus, the one perfect faithful One who truly took this place.
So the words fit Christ first, and then everyone who trusts as He trusted.
Night and day are paired on purpose. One writer reads them as the two ways the enemy came at Christ.
The "terror of the night" works by hidden hints. "The arrow that flies by day" is the deliberate, vicious attack out in the open. Neither had any effect on the calm courage of faith that always marked this blessed Son of Man (v. 5). In both cases, whether the attack was underhand, or whether it was bold and open, they never took the Lord Jesus off guard.
Another writer links this fearlessness to a life of secret communion with God.
Of the one living this life of secret communion, we can say, "You will not fear." We live in a world of terrors by night, and dangers by day. A world in which there is lurking evil and wasting destruction. We may have to face these things on every side — as the word says, "at your side," and "at your right hand." Yet if we walk in secret communion, we shall "not fear." God will keep us through the trial. In due course we shall see His judgment come on the wicked.
Notice the phrase "preserved in the trial" — not lifted out of it.
This is where the verse is most often misread.
The believer who looks to the LORD for help can be sure the LORD will keep him at all times. In a world of warring nations we face dangers all the time, both "by day" and "by night." The LORD does not say to the believer, "You will not have to face these terrors as others do." He says, "If you make Me your 'refuge', and put your 'trust' in Me, you 'will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday'" (Psalm 91:2, 5, 6).
Some treat this psalm as a guarantee that nothing bad will touch them. One writer answers that, and shows where the believer's real advantage lies.
God can deliver His people who trust Him out of trouble. He can cover them in the day of battle, and keep them from the terror of the night. He will do these things for them when it is for their greatest good... Yet the Christian should not expect to escape the sorrow and suffering that others are going through... Then what advantage has the Christian over the one who does not know God? His advantage is that he knows God — God behind the sorrow, God over it, God in it, and God still there in all His infinite wisdom and love when the sorrow is past and gone.
Another writer tells what happened to a man who read the psalm as a promise of immunity.
A dear saint of God I knew, now at rest with Him, took up the promises of God's protecting care in Psalm 91. When the plague was raging around him, he felt sure it would not come near his house. The plague seemed to leave for a time without touching him. But it soon came back and took his wife. What desolation of heart followed! ... It is not deliverance out of the troubling circumstances that we must look for, but to learn our God as the God of resurrection in the middle of death.
- Refuge first. Verse 5's fearlessness belongs to the one who has already called the Lord "my refuge." Take the shelter, then read the promise.
- Two arrows, one shelter. Night stands for the hidden attack, day for the open one. The same shelter covers both.
- One Man perfectly. Christ met every hidden and open attack without once being caught off guard. The psalm speaks of Him first.
- Kept in, not kept out. God does not promise His people a world without terrors; He promises they will not be afraid in it.
- The real advantage. Not immunity from sorrow, but knowing God behind it, over it, in it, and still there when it is past.
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness, for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
Verse 6 closes a list of four dangers, set two by two: some strike in the dark, some in broad daylight. Two questions follow. What are these dangers? And who is the person promised freedom from fear of them?
The verse names danger by its timing. One writer looks past the illness itself to what stands behind it.
"Nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness" (v. 6). This is a threatening disease. It stands for the spiritual powers of darkness that attack when we are unaware. "Nor the destruction that wastes at noonday." Again, this refers to bold, open attacks. Here the enemy thinks his power can overcome. But none of these things made any difference to the Lord Jesus. His defence was always from God; and in the measure that believers are dependent on the living God, they too need have no fear.
The promise is about fear, not about escape. One writer puts the difference bluntly.
The LORD does not say to the believer, "You shall not have to face these terrors even as others." He says, "If you make Me your 'refuge', and put your 'trust' in Me, 'You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday'" (Psalm 91:2, 5, 6).
The same writer ties the freedom from fear to a hidden life with God, and adds what comes after the trial.
We can say of the one living this life of secret communion, "You shall not be afraid." We live in a world of terrors by night, and dangers by day. A world of lurking evil and wasting destruction. We may have to face these things on every side… Yet if we walk in secret communion we shall "not be afraid." God will keep us through the trial, and in due course we shall see His governmental judgment on the wicked.
One writer points to a small grammatical detail that changes how the whole psalm reads.
In Psalm 90 "man" is generic. The whole race of Adam, the first man, is in view, and so all through the pronouns are in the plural. It is we, us, our, they, them. In Psalm 91 the word man does not occur, though clearly enough a Man is in view. The personal pronoun runs all through, and it is always singular… He is not the first man, Adam, nor anyone of his race. He is the Second Man, the Lord from heaven.
Another writer points to Satan's own use of the psalm, then to why disaster cannot touch this Man.
Satan surely knew that this psalm was written about the Messiah, for he quoted verses 11 and 12 to Him with the comment, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down."… Nature is at peace with the Man whom its God is with. Neither pestilence nor destruction touches Him. The thousands falling around Him only show more fully how complete a protection God's government throws around the Man whose only reliance is on God.
The psalm runs as a conversation. Verse 6 falls in the part where the Spirit spells out what follows from Messiah's trust.
Verse 1: Whoever takes the secret place gets the power of the Almighty. Verse 2: Messiah says, I will take Jehovah as my refuge… Verse 3: The Spirit declares the consequences of this. In verse 9 the remnant address Messiah. In verse 14 Jehovah comes in, and sets His seal on the whole.
These writers deal with real plague and real germs, and they differ over how far the verse promises bodily safety. One warns against treating it as a charm, and tells a true story.
A dear saint of God I knew, now at rest with Him, did this. He took up the providential blessings of Psalm 91, and when the plague was raging around him in the East, he felt sure it would not come near his house. The pestilence seemed to leave for a time without touching him. But it soon returned and took his wife… We must not look for rescue out of hard circumstances. We must look to know our God as the God of resurrection in the middle of death.
Another writer answers a question about infection, and warns of the opposite danger.
One may easily become morbid about contagion and germs. Take a few simple, ordinary precautions. Beyond that, we must be content to trust our gracious Father's care and protection… May He keep us trusting and simple.
- Two clocks. Danger comes hidden at midnight and open at midday. The verse names both, and God's care covers both.
- Secret place. Freedom from fear belongs to the one who lives in unbroken communion with God, not to the one who only quotes the words.
- One Man. The singular pronouns point to one Person: the Second Man, whose reliance on God was total. In Him the psalm is perfectly true.
- Kept through, not kept out. God does not promise you will never face the terror. He promises you will not fear it, and that He will keep you through it.
- Trust, not talisman. Writers differ in emphasis. One warns against claiming immunity. Another warns against morbid fear. Both land on simple trust in the Father's care.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; [but] it shall not come nigh thee.
A second voice answers the man who has just called God his refuge. It pictures him left standing while destruction sweeps the ground on both sides. Two hard questions follow: who is this promise for, and does it mean a believer never dies?
These words are not the worshipper boasting about himself. They answer his confession of trust, and the falling thousands prove his safety.
Another voice now answers, with the assurance of how completely this faith is justified and made good. His inner experience answers to this perfect care. Nothing alarms Him — no terror of the night, no arrow flying openly by day. Nature is at peace with the Man its own God is with. Neither pestilence nor destruction touches Him. The fall of thousands around Him only shows more fully the complete protection which God's government throws around the Man whose sole reliance is on God.
Commentators read this psalm as pointing first to Christ, whose dependence on God never wavered.
The arrows may fly thick and fast, and a thousand may fall at His side and ten thousand at His right hand, but not one arrow can come near Him. He cannot be touched by any hostile force.
The verse names two positions: "at your side" and "at your right hand." Together they cover every direction trouble can come from.
Of the one living this life of secret communion it can be said, "You shall not be afraid." We live in a world of terrors by night and dangers by day. It is a world of hidden evil and destruction that lays waste. We may have to face these things on every side — the psalm says "at your side" and "at your right hand." Yet if we are walking in secret communion we shall "not be afraid." God will keep us through the trial, and in due course we shall see His judgment come on the wicked in this world.
How much of this promise belongs to anyone else? One writer gives the measure.
In the measure that believers are dependent on the living God, they too need have no fear. Great numbers may fall on one side, and greater numbers still on the other. It would seem inevitable that the believer will suffer the same fate too. Yet God's protecting hand will keep safely those who depend on Him. Above all this is true of the Lord Jesus (v. 7), since His dependence on God never changed.
The psalm before this one, the prayer of Moses, ends in the shadow of death. One writer reads Psalm 91 as God's answer to that fear.
This Psalm shows us something of the trials and feelings of the godly in Israel in that day, before deliverance dawns on them. In Psalm 89:47-48 the believer reminds God how short human life is — and, as he fears, how certain his death is. In this prayer of Moses that feeling and fear grow stronger. Will it really happen? Will death overtake them? An answer comes in Psalm 91. God's earthly saints shall not be left in doubt about that.
Commentators differ here. One takes the psalm as directly for the believer today.
The more obvious and important bearing of this precious Psalm, however, is on the Christian now, as a companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. The principle illustrated is very simple. God, being loved and trusted, acts on behalf of His own (Rom. 8:28).
Another warns that the names for God in this psalm tie it to earthly promises.
It takes Jehovah, as such, as God. So the one who owns that name comes under the care of El-Shaddai, for a specific carrying out of earthly promises in the ways of God. This is not our place: anyone who acted on it would deceive himself. Yet a general faith, and trust of heart founded on it, would surely be blessed.
One writer tells what happened to a man who treated this promise as a guarantee.
He took up the providential blessings of Psalm 91, and when the plague was raging around him in the East he felt sure it would not come near his house. The pestilence seemed to leave for a time without touching him. It quickly returned, however, and took his wife... We must not look for deliverance out of the troubling circumstances. We must learn our God as the God of resurrection in the middle of death.
- Dependence. The promise answers a confession of trust. God's protection rests on reliance on Him, not on our own strength.
- Christ. The One whose dependence never broke is the Man the verse fits perfectly — the arrows fly, and not one reaches Him.
- Company. Others come under the same shelter in the measure they share that dependence. Falling thousands prove nothing about the one left standing.
- Direction. "At your side" and "at your right hand" mean danger from every direction. The answer is not escape but freedom from fear.
- Caution. Commentators differ on how far a Christian may claim this promise. Treating it as a guarantee against death has ended in bitter loss. The deeper hope is to know God as the God of resurrection.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked.
Psalm 91:8 follows the picture of thousands falling on every side. It draws the line between the one sheltered in God and everyone else. He is in the scene, but not in the disaster. The word that carries the whole verse is "only" — his entire share in what happens to the wicked is to watch it. Where the ESV has "the recompense of the wicked," older translations read "the reward of the wicked."
The verse limits more than it promises. All the sheltered man gets from the disaster around him is a view of it.
In these verses the Spirit of God speaks to Christ. He unfolds the blessings that flow to the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High... So the one who dwells in the secret place will not be afraid of secret attack — "the terror by night." Nor will he fear direct, open opposition — the "arrow by day." A thousand will fall at his side, but destruction will not come near the one who trusts in Jehovah. He shall have no part in the judgment of the wicked except to behold it with his eyes.
The bodies on both sides do not weaken the promise. They measure it.
Nature is at peace with the One who has its God with Him. Neither pestilence nor destruction touches Him. The fall of thousands around Him only shows more fully how complete the protection is that God's government throws around the Man whose sole reliance is in God. Only shall He see with His own eyes the end of the wicked.
The One sheltered here is the Lord Jesus. Believers who depend on God stand on the same ground — and watching is not His final role.
Nothing of this made any difference to the Lord Jesus. His defense was always from God; and in the measure that believers depend on the living God, they too need have no fear. Then, whether on the right hand or on the left, He would see the reward of the wicked (v. 8). Indeed, in the long run, He will Himself sentence the wicked to the judgment of eternal fire!
The promise is not that the terrors stay at a distance. They come right up to a person's side and right hand.
Of the one living this life of secret communion we can say, "You shall not be afraid." We live in a world of terrors by night, and dangers by day. A world in which there is lurking evil and wasting destruction. We may have to face these things on every side — as the word says, "at your side," and "at your right hand." Yet if we walk in secret communion we shall "not be afraid." God will preserve us in the trial, and in due course we shall see His governmental judgment upon the wicked.
There is a difference between waiting for judgment to arrive and watching it from above. Abraham stood on the mountain while the cities burned below.
When Abraham was on the mountain, God came and told him what was going to happen on the plain. These were things that did not involve him at all. This thought is of great importance. If we think we are to be in the judgments, no wonder we should be like the men spoken of in Luke 21, whose hearts fail for fear as they look at the things coming on the earth. "Only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked," Psalm 91... Our place is not like Noah, floating on the waters while the judgments are abroad.
Faith does not wait for the fulfilment before it sings. Stuart also marks a limit on the hope this verse gives.
The godly one treats the promise of 91:8 — "Only with your eyes shall you behold, and see the reward of the wicked" — as certain of fulfilment (92:7)... He has never vacated His throne, whatever the apostates might think. The righteous, therefore, will He bless, for He is upright, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Faith is at work. The end is sure. The godly man will be preserved, and will see his desire on his enemies. That is a righteous thought for earthly saints, but not language that should mark a Christian.
- Only. The word restricts the sheltered man's share in the catastrophe to one thing — his eyesight. He has no part in the judgment of the wicked except to behold it.
- Shelter. That safety is not luck or distance. It belongs to the Man whose sole reliance is in God. The thousands falling around Him only prove how complete the protection is.
- Through. The danger is not kept away — it stands at your side and your right hand. God preserves you in the trial, and then you see the outcome.
- Above. Abraham watched the plain from the mountain, not from an ark on the waters. Looking down on judgment is a different thing from dreading its approach.
- Certain. Faith treats the sight as already sure, because God has never vacated His throne. And the One who watched will Himself pass the sentence.