Psalms 20:1

hear thee R.V., answer thee, and so in Psalms 20:6; Psalms 20:9.

the day of trouble Or distress, when adversaries(a cognate word) press him hard. The impending campaign is specially, though not exclusively, meant. Cp. Psalms 46:1; Numbers 10:9.

The name&c. May the God of Jacob prove Himself to be all that His Name implies (see on Psalms 5:11): may He Who is a tower of refuge (Psalms 9:9; Psalms 18:2) set thee up on high in safety from thy enemies. Cp. Proverbs 18:10. God of Jacobis often synonymous with God of Israel(Psalms 46:7; Psalms 46:11); yet the choice of this name cannot but suggest the thought of Jehovah's providential care for the great ancestor of the nation. Cp. the exactly similar language of Genesis 35:3: "God, who answered me in the day of my distress;" and the references to Jacob's history in Hosea 12:4-5.