The God of Angel Armies

I know who goes before me

I know who stands behind

The God of Angel Armies

Is always on my side

The One who reigns forever

He is a friend of mine

The God of Angel Armies

Is always by my side

(Chris Tomlin, 'Whom Shall I Fear')

Great lyrics, and a great song. Where does 'God of Angel Armies' come from?  It's actually very common in the Old Testament, and occurs just twice in the NT. The Hebrew is Yahweh Tsabaot and this often used to be translated LORD of hosts. Tsabaot is the plural of tsaba, and means:

1. Troops, armies (Numbers 1:3, Psalm 44:10)
2. Hordes of people (Exodus 6:26)
3. The heavenly entourage of Yahweh (1Kings 22:19, Psalm 80:14, 103:21) i.e. the heavenly 'armies'! Psalm 80:14 actually has 'God of heavenly armies' or 'God of angel armies'.
4. The heavenly constellations i.e. the stars and their moons (Genesis 2:1, Psalm 33:6)

So Chris Tomlin is absolutely right to use this word - it's entirely biblical. Do any Bible Translations use this translation? Not exactly. The closest is the New Living Translation which uses LORD of Heaven's Armies (I Samuel 1:3) or God of Heaven's Armies (Psalm 80:14) as appropriate.

But what a thought - the God of Angel Armies is on our side! Take a moment this morning to worship Him. If you have time, get hold of a copy of the NLT and look at the following verses:

1 Sam. 1:3, 11; 4:4; 15:2; 17:45; 2 Sam. 5:10; 6:2, 18; 7:8, 26f; 2 Kgs 19:31; 1 Chr. 11:9; 17:7, 24; Psa. 24:10; 46:7, 11; 48:8; 59:5; 69:6; 80:4, 7, 14, 19; 84:1, 3, 8, 12; 89:8; Isa. 1:9, 24; 2:12; 3:1, 15; 5:7, 9, 16, 24; 6:3, 5; 8:13, 18; 9:7, 13, 19; 10:16, 23f, 26, 33; 13:4, 13; 14:22ff, 27; 17:3; 18:7; 19:4, 12, 16ff, 20, 25; 21:10; 22:5, 12, 14f, 25; 23:9; 24:23; 25:6; 28:5, 22, 29; 29:6; 31:4f; 37:16, 32; 39:5; 44:6; 45:13; 47:4; 48:2; 51:15; 54:5; Jer. 2:19; 5:14; 6:6, 9; 7:3, 21; 8:3; 9:7, 15, 17; 10:16; 11:17, 20, 22; 15:16; 16:9; 19:3, 11, 15; 20:12; 23:15f, 36; 25:8, 27ff, 32; 26:18; 27:4, 18f, 21; 28:2, 14; 29:4, 8, 17, 21, 25; 30:8; 31:23, 35; 32:14f, 18; 33:11f; 35:13, 17ff; 38:17; 39:16; 42:15, 18; 43:10; 44:2, 7, 11, 25; 46:10, 18, 25; 48:1, 15; 49:5, 7, 26, 35; 50:18, 25, 31, 33f; 51:5, 14, 19, 33, 57f; Hos. 12:5; Amos 3:13; 4:13; 5:14ff, 27; 6:8, 14; 9:5; Mic. 4:4; Nah. 2:13; 3:5; Hab. 2:13; Zeph. 2:9f; Hag. 1:2, 5, 7, 9, 14; 2:4, 6ff, 11, 23; Zech. 1:3f, 6, 12, 14, 16f; 2:8f, 11; 3:7, 9f; 4:6, 9; 5:4; 6:12, 15; 7:3f, 9, 12f; 8:1ff, 6f, 9, 11, 14, 18ff; 9:15; 10:3; 12:5; 13:2, 7; 14:16f, 21; Mal. 1:4, 6, 8ff, 13f; 2:2, 4, 7f, 12, 16; 3:1, 5, 7, 10ff, 14, 17; 4:1, 3; Rom. 9:29; Jam. 5:4

You won't regret it!