to snatch away · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
snare
מִפַּ֥חmi.Pach
H6341
a (metallic) sheet (as pounded thin) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
fowler
יָק֗וּשׁya.Kush
H3353
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
noisome
הַוּֽוֹתha.Vot
H1942
by implication · noun, common feminine plural absolute
pestilence
מִדֶּ֥בֶרmi.De.ver
H1698
a pestilence · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
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 124:7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
Psalms 141:9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
Job 5:10-22 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
Proverbs 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Proverbs 6:5 Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the so…
2 Timothy 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Numbers 16:46-48 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation,…
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…
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,.... These are the words of the psalmist, either speaking to himself, for the encouragement of his own faith and trust in the Lord; or to the man that dwells in the secret place, and under the shadow of the most High; which latter seems most agreeable; though Cocceius thinks they are the words of God in one of his Persons, speaking of another divine Person that should deliver such that trust in him: the Targum makes them to be the words of David to Solomon his son. By the "fowler" and his "snare" may be meant either Saul, who laid wait for David, spread snares for him, and hunted him as a partridge on the mountains, from whom he was 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
I will hope in Him, for He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. In this world there are many hunters who long to capture our souls, just as is said by the prophet: "Our soul has been snatched away like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters." Now that hunters are taken in a sinister sense in the holy Scriptures, we have already said often. For that Nimrod, the giant, always a rebel against God, was a hunter. Esau too was a hunter. For He Himself shall deliver me from the snare of the hunters. We read in Proverbs: "The eye of the harlot is the snare of the sinner." "For whoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." As many as are the sins, so many are the snares; as many as the snares, so many the hunters. The doctrines of the heretics are the snares of death. Finally there follows: and from the harsh word. You see that it is spoken concerning the heretics. In place of what we have, "harsh," the Hebrew has "hidden." For heretics always promise certain secret and great things, so that they may snatch away those things which are true and manifest.
For he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. There are many hunters in this world, who try to hunt down our soul. Indeed even that giant Nimrod was a great hunter in the sight of the Lord: and Esau was a hunter, because he was a sinner; and nowhere in the holy Scriptures do we find any holy hunter. Fishermen we find to be holy. For he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. "Our soul, like a sparrow, has been snatched from the snare of the hunters: the snare has been broken, and we have been set free." What is this snare that has been broken? "The Lord," he says, "will crush Satan under our feet speedily." And the apostle says: "That you may be freed from the snare of the devil." You see, therefore, that this is a hunter, who desires to hunt our souls to their destruction. The devil has many snares, and he has diverse snares. Greed is a snare of the devil, slander is a snare of the devil, fornication is a snare of the devil. And from the harsh word. As long as we are in holiness, our soul is tranquil; but when we begin to think about sins, our soul is troubled, and is shaken as though by certain waves.
Thus then do thou say also, "In Him will I trust. For He Himself shall deliver me" [Psalm 91:3], not I myself. Observe whether he teaches anything but this, that all our trust be in God, none in man. Whence shall he deliver you? "From the snare of the hunter, and from a harsh word." Deliverance from the hunter's net is indeed a great blessing: but how is deliverance from a harsh word so? Many have fallen into the hunter's net through a harsh word. What is it that I say? The devil and his angels spread their snares, as hunters do: and those who walk in Christ tread afar from those snares: for he dares not spread his net in Christ: he sets it on the verge of the way, not in the way. Let then your way be Christ, and you shall not fall into the snares of the devil.... But what is, "from a harsh word"? The devil has entrapped many by a harsh word: for instance, those who profess Christianity among Pagans suffer insult from the heathen: they blush when they hear reproach, and shrinking out of their path in consequence, fall into the hunter's snares. And yet what will a harsh word do to you? Nothing. Can the snares with which the enemy entraps you by means of reproaches, do nothing to you? Nets are usually spread for birds at the end of a hedge, and stones are thrown into the hedge: those stones will not harm the birds. When did any one ever hit a bird by throwing a stone into a hedge? But the bird, frightened at the harmless noise, falls into the nets; and thus men who fear the vain reproaches of their calumniators, and who blush at unprovoked insults, fall into the snares of the hunters, and are taken captive by the devil...Just as among the heathen, the Christian who fears their reproaches falls into the snare of the hunter: so among the Christians, those who endeavour to be more diligent and better than the rest, are doomed to bear insults from Christians themselves. What then does it profit, my brother, if you occasionally find a city in which there is no heathen? No one there insults a man because he is a Christian, for this reason, that there is no Pagan therein: but there are many Christians who lead a bad life, among whom those who are resolved to live righteously, and to be sober among the drunken, and chaste among the unchaste, and amid the consulters of astrologers sincerely to worship God, and to ask after no such things, and among spectators of…
Dictionary and topics
Fowler — The arts of, referred to Ps. 91:3; 124:7; Prov. 6:5; Jer. 5:26; Hos. 9:8; Ezek. 17:20; Eccl. 9:12. Birds of all kinds abound in Palestine, and the capture of these for the table and for other uses…
Hunting — Mentioned first in Gen. 10:9 in connection with Nimrod. Esau was “a cunning hunter” (Gen. 25:27). Hunting was practised by the Hebrews after their settlement in the “Land of Promise” (Lev. 17:15;…
Devil, The · Compared to: A fowler — Compared to: A fowler
Protection · Is vouchsafed to saints in: All dangers — Is vouchsafed to saints in: All dangers
Providence Of God, The · Is exercised in: Delivering saints — Is exercised in: Delivering saints
Sickness · God: Preserves saints in time of — God: Preserves saints in time of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
יקושׁ, as in Pro 6:5; Jer 5:26, is the dullest toned from for יקושׁ or יוקשׁ, Psa 124:7. What is meant is death, or "he who has the power of death," Heb 2:14, cf. Ti2 2:26. "The snare of the fowler" is a figure for the peril of one's life, Ecc 9:12. In connection with Psa 91:4 we have to call to mind Deu 32:11 : God protects His own as an eagle with its large strong wing. אברה is nom. unitatis, a pinion, to אבר, Isa 40:31; and the Hiph. הסך, from סכך, with the dative of the object, like the Kal in Psa 140:8, signifies to afford covering, protection. The ἅπαξ λεγ. סחרה, according to its stem-word, is that which encompasses anything round about, and here beside צנּה, a weapon of defence surr…
The psalmist invites the godly to trust in the Lord and find protection in him.
91:3 God protects the godly from deadly disease and even a destructive word.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 91:3
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. Assuredly no subtle plot shall succeed against one who has the eyes of God watching for his defence, We are foolish and weak as poor little birds, and are very apt to be lured to our destruction by cunning foes, but if we dwell near to God, he will see to it that the most skilful deceiver shall not entrap us. "Satan the fowler who betrays Unguarded souls a thousand ways," shall be foiled in the case of the man whose high and honourable condition consists in residence within the holy place of the Most High.
And from the noisome pestilence. He…
