Midrasz do Izajasza 17:12

Another interpretation: David spoke with respect to the event of the <golden> calf. The world said: This is the people who heard from the mouth of its God (in Exod. 20:3): YOU SHALL HAVE NO <OTHER GODS BESIDE ME>. Then at the end of forty days they said of the calf (in Exod. 32:4): THIS IS YOUR GOD, O ISRAEL. Is there salvation for them? (Ps. 3:3 [2]:) <MANY SAY TO MY SOUL>: THERE IS NO SALVATION FOR HIM THROUGH HIS GOD. SELAH. <The word> MANY (in Ps. 3:3 [2]) can only mean the peoples of the world, since it is stated (in Is. 17:12): HERE IS THE ROAR OF MANY PEOPLES. Israel had promised (to have no other gods) and you agreed with them; so you said to Moses our Teacher (in Deut. 9:14): LET ME ALONE, AND I WILL DESTROY THEM. However, (in Ps. 3:4 [3]:) <YOU, O LORD ARE> A SHIELD ABOUT ME. You <are the one> who shielded me through the merit of our ancestors and recalled for us the merit of Abraham, in that you had said to him (in Gen. 15:1): I AM A SHIELD FOR YOU. Before I committed that < sinful > act, you had your Divine Presence dwell in our midst, but after I had committed that act, you said (in Exod. 25:8): AND MAKE ME A SANCTUARY <THAT I MAY DWELL AMONG THEM>. (Ps. 3:4 [3]): THE ONE WHO RAISES UP MY HEAD. Instead of that which we owed you, <namely> the lifting off of our head, you gave us an uplifted head at the hands of Moses our Teacher, [to whom you said] (in Exod. 30:12): WHEN YOU TAKE A CENSUS OF (literally: LIFT UP THE HEAD OF) THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL….>

“My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause. They bound my life in the pit, and cast stones at me” (Lamentations 3:52–53).
“My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause. They bound my life in the pit” – this is Joseph, this is Jeremiah, this is Daniel.⁷⁷All three were wrongly imprisoned.
“Waters rose over my head; I said: I am doomed” (Lamentations 3:54).
“Waters rose over my head…” – these are the nations of the world in whose regard it is written: “Woe, the tumult of many peoples, like the roar of the seas they will roar; the din of nations like the din of great waters” (Isaiah 17:12).

However, the rabbis held that this verse refers to the nations of the world. The idolaters are many (rabim), as it is written: The uproar of many peoples (Isa. 17:12). They said to Israel: You are a nation that heard at Sinai: I am the Lord Thy God, thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exod. 20:3), yet at the end of forty days you said of a calf: This is your god, O Israel (ibid. 32:4). How can they enjoy salvation, since it says: There is no salvation for him in God (Ps. 3:3)? But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me suggests that Israel cried out: Master of the Universe, do You agree with them, since You have said: He that sacrificeth unto the gods shall be utterly destroyed (Exod. 22:19)? A shield about me alludes to the merit of the fathers; my glory implies that You will cause your Shekhinah to dwell in our midst when You said: Build Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them (ibid. 25:8); and lifter up of the head indicates that instead of sentencing us to destruction, You permitted us to lift up the head, that is, to be forgiven because of Moses, as it is said: Thou liftest up the head.