--- title: Psalms 54:1 url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-54-1/ markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-54-1.md type: verse perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching reference: Psalms 54:1 testament: OT section: Poetry index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt --- # Psalms 54:1 ## Text (Berean Standard Bible) > Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might! ## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase - NWT (2013 revision): "O God, save me by your name, And defend me with your power." ## JW Usage Read as David appealing to Jehovah's name and power for deliverance from enemies. Witnesses use such passages to underline the importance of the divine name and the confidence that comes from calling on it. ## Protestant Usage Save me by your name. Not by your help, not because of your promise — by your name. The name is treated as the instrument of rescue. That is the Hebrew Scriptures' consistent way of speaking about salvation, and it is worth laying out with a Witness verse by verse rather than asserting it: Psalm 25:11 for pardon, Psalm 79:9 for rescue and forgiveness, Joel 2:32 for everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah, Isaiah 43:11 for there being no saviour besides him. Then read what the apostles say. Acts 4:12: there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Same construction, same exclusivity, different name. Do not rush to the conclusion. Let both stacks sit, and then ask the question rather than answering it: how can both be true unless those two names belong to one God? The agency answer will not carry it, because Jehovah did not say his was the greatest saving name. He said there was no other. Compare Psalms 25:11, Psalms 79:9, Hosea 13:4. ## Arguments Using This Verse - [The Salvation-Name Dilemma](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/salvation-name-dilemma.md) — Old Testament — only Jehovah's name saves. New Testament — only Jesus' name saves. [Deity of Christ]