Psalms 91:6 - Exposition

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness. The plague god is personified and represented as stalking through the land in the hours of darkness. Parallels have been found in the literature of the Babylonians and elsewhere. Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. The rare word, קטב , translated "destruction" here and in Deuteronomy 32:24 , is rendered by the LXX . διαμόνιον , and the entire phrase, "for the destruction that wasteth at noonday" becomes ἀπὸ συμπτώματος καὶ δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ — "from ruin and the demon of the midday"—by which sunstroke would seem to be meant (comp. Psalms 121:6 , "The sun shall not smite thee by day").