Psalms 91:3

3 For he will deliver you from [the] snare of [the] fowler, from [the] plague of destruction.

Psalms 91:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 91:3

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 delivered; or rather any tyrannical enemy and persecutor of the saints, who lay snares for them; and these are broken by the Lord, and so they escape, as a bird out of the hands of the fowler, ( Psalms 124:6 Psalms 124:7 ) or it may, best of all, be understood of Satan and his temptations, which are as snares that he lays to catch the people of God in, and from which they are delivered by the power and grace of God; see ( 1 Timothy 3:7 ) ( 2 Timothy 2:26 )

and from the noisome pestilence;
the most pernicious and destructive one; which may be literally understood of any pestilential distemper; from which the Lord, by his powerful providence, sometimes protects his people, when in danger of it: or, spiritually, of the pestilential disease of sin, that noisome and deadly one, the plague of the heart, which is the worst of all plagues; and from the ruinous and destructive effects and consequences of which the Lord saves his saints.

Psalms 91:3 In-Context

1 [One who] lives in the secret place of the Most High will lodge in the shadow of Shaddai.

2 I will say to Yahweh, "[You are] my refuge and my fortress, my God [in whom] I trust."

3 For he will deliver you from [the] snare of [the] fowler, from [the] plague of destruction.

4 With his feathers he will cover you, and under his wings you can take refuge. His faithfulness [will be] a shield and a buckler.

5 You need not fear [the] terror of [the] night, [or the] arrow [that] flies by day,

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "he, he will deliver" is perhaps emphatic, "He will certainly deliver"