And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
He said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. This redundancy of images was intended to symbolize David's very strong sense of security in God. х calª`iy (H5553), my rock.] This word, from which was derived Sela, the ancient name of Petra (hewn out of, and imbedded among, rocks), denotes not only a rock, but also excavations or fissures in the rock, so numerous in the mountain districts of Palestine that the Israelites at various periods of their early history (Judges 6:2; 1 Samuel 24:3; 1 Samuel 24:22) sought shelter there from foreign aggression. David's own personnel experience had furnished remarkable proofs of the safety afforded by these rocky caverns. х uwmtsudaatiy (H4686), my fortress.] Matsudah is used generally for a fort or citadel, with which most of the rocky eminences of Palestine were surmounted, and specially for the stronghold of Zion (2 Samuel 4:7; 2 Samuel 4:9: 1 Samuel 22:4-5), and another fortress near Beth-lehem (2 Samuel 5:17; 2 Samuel 23:14; 1 Chronicles 11:16). The tropical application of these images, although sufficiently obvious, is shown by the addition of a third term, "my deliverer."