properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
secret
בְּסֵ֣תֶרbe.Se.ter
H5643
a cover (in a good or a bad · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
High
עֶלְי֑וֹןel.Yon
H5945
an elevation · adjective, masculine singular absolute
abide
יִתְלוֹנָֽןyit.lo.Nan
H3885
to stop (usually over night) · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
shadow
בְּצֵ֥לbe.Tzel
H6738
shade · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Almighty
שַׁ֝דַּ֗יSha.Dai
H7706
the Almighty · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 32:7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Psalms 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a roc…
Psalms 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
Psalms 17:8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
1 John 4:15-16 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Psalms 31:20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of ton…
Isaiah 25:4 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 th…
Psalms 61:3-4 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 91:1-8
In these verses we have,
I. A great truth laid down in general, That all those who live a life of communion with God are constantly safe under his protection, and may therefore preserve a holy serenity and security of mind at all times (Psa 91:1): He that dwells, that sits down, in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty; he that by faith chooses God for his guardian shall find all that in him which he needs or can desire. Note, 1. It is the character of a true believer that he dwells in the secret place of the Most High; he is at home in God, returns to God, and reposes in him as his rest; he acquaints himself with inward religion, and makes heart-wor…
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High,.... Or the Supreme; a title of God, who is superior to all beings, the Creator and Preserver of them, God over all, higher than the highest of angels or men; see Genesis 14:22, "his secret place" is his heart, his bosom, where his only begotten Son lies; and into which he takes his people, where they are set as a seal, and who enjoy intimate communion with him; which is no other than his gracious presence, called "the secret of his presence", Psalm 31:20, which none but saints are admitted to, when his everlasting love, which was a secret in his heart, is made known unto them, and in which they also dwell, 1 John 4:16, as they likewise d…
Psalm 91:1-4
1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the High One shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2. I will say to Jehovah, He is my hope and my fortress: my God; in him will I hope. 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, from the noxious pestilence. 4. He shall protect thee with his wings, and under his feathers shalt thou be safe; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the High One. Some Hebrew interpreters read the three first verses as one continuous sentence, down to the words, he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler The whole would then run thus -- "He who dwells in the covert of the Most…
The Church Fathers
The praise of a song, by David himself. First we ought to know this: that from the eighty-eighth psalm up to the hundredth—that is, eleven psalms—have no title in the Hebrew; and that they belong, as we treated most recently in the previous psalm, to the same person to whom that one belongs as well which is headed with this title: "A prayer of Moses, the man of God."
Who dwells in the help of the Most High. "Help" is what Ezra means. Indeed, the prophet Ezra is called βοηθός (boēthos), "helper." This is the one who led the people back from the captivity of Babylon and brought them into the land of promise. Whoever, therefore, dwells in Ezra, whoever dwells in Jesus (for the moment according to the tropological sense), who built for himself a house without hands, as the apostle says — that house which the Lord had built even for the midwives in Egypt: he shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.
He who dwells in the help of the Most High. Ours it is to begin, God's it is to help; for He does not crown those who sleep, but those who labor. He shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven. In place of what we read, "of the God of heaven," the Hebrew has saddai. Hence that which is said in Ezekiel, "And I heard the voice of the Lord Saddai speaking," can be understood thus: that he heard the voice of the Lord, the God of heaven, speaking; for Saddai is interpreted "God of heaven."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
As the concealing One, God is called עליון, the inaccessibly high One; and as the shadowing One שׁדּי, the invincibly almighty One. Faith, however, calls Him by His covenant name (Heilsname) יהוה and, with the suffix of appropriation, אלהי (my God). In connection with Psa 91:1 we are reminded of the expressions of the Book of Job, Job 39:28, concerning the eagle's building its nest in its eyrie. According to the accentuation, Psa 91:2 ought to be rendered with Geier, "Dicit: in Domino meo (or Domini) latibulum, etc." But the combination אמר לה is more natural, since the language of address follows in both halves of the verse.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 91:1-2
Ps 91 This wisdom psalm expresses confidence in the Almighty God, who provides a shelter for those who take refuge in him. They receive redemption, life, and glory from the Lord, who loves and cares for those who seek him.
91:1-2 The Lord is an ancient shelter (see 90:1), open to those who seek refuge in him.
91:1 The Most High is an ancient title that expresses the Lord’s exalted status as the ruler and protector of the godly (see Gen 14:19).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 91:1
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High. The blessings here promised are not for all believers, but for those who live in close fellowship with God. Every child of God looks towards the inner sanctuary and the mercyseat, yet all do not dwell in the most holy place; they run to it at times, and enjoy occasional approaches, but they do not habitually reside in the mysterious presence. Those who through rich grace obtain unusual and continuous communion with God, so as to abide in Christ and Christ in them, become possessors of rare and special benefits, which are missed by those w…
