Protection and safety

² He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

³ My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. My stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior, You save me from violence.

⁴ For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,

⁵ like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced.

¹⁷ But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you will not be delivered into the hands of the men whom you fear.

¹⁸ For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD.’”

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.

⁷ Show the wonders of Your loving devotion, You who save by Your right hand those who seek refuge from their foes.

⁸ Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings

⁹ from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.

² I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.

³ He reaches down from heaven and saves me; He rebukes those who trample me. Selah God sends forth His loving devotion and His truth.

³ For You have been my refuge, a tower of strength against the enemy.

⁴ Let me dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah

¹ In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.

² In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.

³ Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.

¹ Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.

² As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore.

³ For the scepter of the wicked will not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not put forth their hands to injustice.

If I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me from the anger of my foes; You extend Your hand, and Your right hand saves me.

I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

¹ Blessed be the LORD, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

² He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. He is my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.

²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

“Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Concerning Benjamin he said: “May the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him; God shields him all day long, and upon His shoulders he rests.”

²⁵ May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”

²⁶ “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty.

²⁷ The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

²⁸ So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

²⁹ Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”

Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

³ “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.

⁴ Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and deliver you.

²⁴ Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied.

²⁵ “Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the door of the blazing fiery furnace and called out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire,

²⁷ and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.

²² My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”

²³ The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.

²⁷ Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly, for the Philistines have raided the land!”

²⁸ So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why that place is called Sela-hammahlekoth.

⁶ On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.

⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.

¹⁹ And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,

²⁰ so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other.

⁴ “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

⁵ And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!

⁶ Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

“Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.

And they entered, the male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.

But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’

As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

¹⁰ Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But the spear struck the wall and David eluded him, ran away, and escaped that night.

¹¹ Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

¹² So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.

Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out, saying,

²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life.”