Psalms 18
1 For the leader. Of David, the servant of the Lord, who recited the words of this song to the Lord after the Lord had saved him from the power of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O Lord, my strength.
To the music director. A psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who sang the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord saved him from all his enemies, and from Saul. He sang: I love you, Lord. You are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, deliverer, my God, my rock, where I take refuge, my shield, my defender, my tower.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my Savior. He is my God, my rock who protects me. He shields me from harm, his power protects me, he keeps me safe.
3 Worthy of praise is the Lord whom I call on, he rescues me from all my foes.
I call for help from the Lord who should be praised, and he saves me from those who hate me.
4 The waves of death broke about me, fearful floods of chaos.
Ropes of death encircled me, surging waters of destruction flooded over me;
The grave wound its ropes around me; death set snares for me. (Sheol h7585)
6 In distress I cried to the Lord, and shouted for help to my God; in his temple he heard my voice, into his ears came my cry.
In my despair I called on the Lord—I cried out to my God for help. He heard my voice from his Temple—my cry for help reached his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked, mountains trembled to their foundations, and quaked because of his wrath.
The earth shook to and fro; the foundations of the mountains trembled, shaking because of his anger.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils, devouring fire from his mouth, coals were kindled by it.
Smoke came out of his nostrils, and fire came from his mouth; burning coals blazed before him.
9 Then he bent the sky and came down, thick darkness was under his feet.
He parted the heavens and came down, with dark clouds beneath his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew, darting on wings of wind,
Riding on an angel he flew, swooping on the wings of the wind.
11 with his screen of darkness about him, in thick dark clouds of water.
He hid himself in darkness, covering himself with black thunderclouds.
12 At the radiance before him there passed hailstones and coals of fire.
Hailstones and burning coals flew out from his brightness, passing through his thick clouds.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven, the Most High uttered his voice.
The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High sounded among the hailstones and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them, flashed lightnings, and routed them.
He fired his arrows, scattering his enemies; he routed them with his lightning bolts.
15 The channels of the sea were revealed, the world was laid bare to its base, at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
You roared, Lord, and by the wind from the breath of your nostrils the valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth were uncovered.
16 He stretched from on high, he seized me, drew me up from the mighty waters,
He reached down his hand from above and grabbed hold of me. He pulled me out of the deep water.
17 and saved me from those who hated me – fierce foes, too mighty for me.
He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and who were much stronger than me.
18 In my day of distress they assailed me, but the Lord proved my support.
They came at me at my worst possible moment, but the Lord supported me.
19 To a spacious place he brought me, and, for love of me, he saved me.
He set me free, he rescued me because he's my friend.
20 The Lord repays my innocence, he rewards my cleanness of hands.
The Lord rewarded me because I do what's right; he repaid me because I am innocent.
21 For I kept the ways of the Lord, nor have wickedly strayed from my God.
For I have followed the Lord's ways; I have not sinned by turning away from my God.
22 His commandments were all before me, his statutes I put not away.
I have kept all his laws in mind; I have not ignored his commandments.
23 And I was blameless before him, guarding myself from sin.
I am blameless in his sight; I keep myself from sinning.
24 So the Lord repaid my innocence, my cleanness of hands in his sight.
The Lord rewarded me for doing what's right. I am innocent in his sight.
25 With the loyal you are loyal, and with the blameless blameless.
You show trust to those who trust; you show integrity to those with integrity,
26 With the pure you show yourself pure, but shrewd with the devious.
You show yourself pure to those who are pure, but you show yourself smart to those who are crafty.
27 For the lowly people you save, but haughty eyes you abase.
You save the humble, but you bring down the proud.
28 You are my lamp, Lord, my God who enlightens my darkness.
You light my lamp! Lord, my God, you light up my darkness!
29 With you I can storm a rampart, with my God I can leap a wall.
With you, I can charge down a troop of soldiers; with you, my God, I can climb a fortress wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is shield to all who take refuge in him.
God's way is absolutely right. What the Lord says is trustworthy. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
31 For who is God but the Lord? And who is a rock but our God?
For who is God except the Lord? Who is the rock, except our God?
32 The God who arms me with strength, who cleared and smoothed my way.
God makes me strong and keeps me safe.
33 He made my feet like hinds’ feet, and set me up on the heights.
He makes me surefooted like the deer, able to walk the heights in safety.
34 He taught my hands how to fight, and my arms how to bend a bronze bow.
He teaches me how to fight in battle; he gives me the strength to draw a bronze bow.
35 The shield of your help you gave me, your right hand supports me, you stoop down to make me great.
You protect me with the shield of your salvation; you support me with your powerful right hand; your help has made me great.
36 In your strength I took giant strides, and my feet never slipped.
You gave me space in which to walk, and prevented my feet from slipping.
37 So I chased the foe till I caught them, and turned not, till I made an end of them.
I chased my enemies, and caught up with them. I did not turn around until I had destroyed them.
38 I smashed them, they could not rise, they fell beneath my feet.
I struck them down—they couldn't get up. They fell at my feet.
39 You did arm me with strength for war, you did bow my assailants beneath me.
You made me strong for battle; you made those who rose up against me kneel down before me.
40 You made my foes turn their back to me, and those who did hate me I finished.
You made my enemies run away; I destroyed all my enemies.
41 They cried for help, but none saved them; to the Lord, but he answered them not.
They cried out for help, but no one came to rescue them. They even called out to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them like dust of the market-place, stamped them like mud of the streets.
I ground them into dust, like dust in the wind. I threw them out like mud in the street.
43 From the strife of the peoples you saved me, you made me head of the nations, peoples I knew not did serve me.
You rescued me from rebellious people; you made me ruler over nations—people I didn't know now serve me.
44 On the instant they hear, they obey me, foreigners come to me cringing.
As soon as they hear of me, they obey; foreigners cringe before me.
45 Foreigners lose courage, and come out of their strongholds trembling.
They lose heart, and come trembling in surrender from their strongholds.
46 The Lord is alive! Blest be my rock! Exalted be God, my protector!
The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock! May the God who saves me be praised!
47 The God who gave me revenge, and brought down nations beneath me,
God avenges me, he subdues peoples under me,
48 who saved me from angry foes, and set me above my assailants, safe from the violent.
he rescues me from those who hate me. You keep me safe from those who rebel against me, you save me from violent men.
49 For this I will praise you among the nations, making music, O Lord, to your name:
That's why I will praise you among the nations, Lord; I will sing praises about who you are.
50 for great triumphs he grants to his king, and faithful love he shows his anointed, to David and his seed evermore.
You have saved the king so often, showing your trustworthy love to David, your anointed, and to his descendants forever.
