Psalms 144

1 I praise Yahweh, who is [like an overhanging] rock [under which I] ([get refuge/am protected])! He trains my hands so that I can use them to fight battles; he trains my fingers so that I can [shoot arrows in a war].

“By David.” Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who exerciseth my hands for the battle, my fingers for the war:

2 He is the one who protects me; he is [like] a fortress [DOU] in which I am safe, he protects me [like] [protect soldiers] [MET], and he gives me refuge. He defeats [other] nations and [then] puts them under my power.

My kindness, and my strong-hold; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

3 Yahweh, [we] people are [very insignificant/unimportant], so why (are you concerned/do you care about us) [RHQ]? [It is amazing to me that] you pay attention to humans.

Lord, what is man, that thou takest cognizance of him: the son of a mortal, that thou regardest him!

4 [The time that we live is as short] as [SIM] a puff of wind; our time to live disappears like a shadow does.

Man is like the breath: his days are like a passing shadow.

5 Yahweh, (tear open/open up) the sky and come down! Touch the mountains in order that smoke will pour out from them!

O Lord, bend thy heavens, and come down: touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

6 Cause lightning to flash with the result that [your enemies] will run away! Shoot your arrows [at them] and cause them to (run away/scatter).

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: send out thy arrows, and confound them.

7 [It is as though my enemies surround me like] a flood; reach your hand down from heaven and rescue me from them [SYN]. They are men from other countries

Stretch out thy hands from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of the children of the stranger.

8 who [SYN] [always] tell lies. [Even in a courtroom where they swear to tell the truth] they tell lies.

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and whose right hand is the right hand of falsehood.

9 God, I will sing a new song to you, and I will play my ten-stringed harp [while I sing] to you.

O God, a new song will I sing unto thee: upon the ten-stringed psaltery will I sing praises unto thee.

10 You enable kings to defeat [their enemies]; and you rescued me, your servant David, from [being killed by] my enemies’ swords.

[Thou art he] that giveth victory unto kings: who riddeth David his servant from the evil-bringing sword.

11 [So I ask you to] save me from [being killed by] the swords [that those] evil [people carry]. Rescue me from the power [MTY] of those foreigners who [SYN] [always] tell lies, and [who raise] their right hands [in courtrooms when they solemnly declare that they will tell the truth].

Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of the children of the stranger, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and whose right hand is the right hand of falsehood.

12 I wish/hope that our young sons will grow up to be like strong plants [SIM], and I wish/hope that our daughters will [grow up to] be [straight and tall] like the pillars [SIM] that stand in the corners of palaces.

So that our sons may be like plants, grown up in their youth: our daughters, like corner-pillars, sculptured in the model of a palace.

13 I wish/hope that our barns will be full of many different crops. I wish/hope that the sheep in our fields will give birth to tens of thousands of baby lambs.

May our garners be full, furnishing all manner of store: our sheep bringing forth thousands and ten thousands in our open pastures.

14 I wish/hope that our cows will give birth to many calves without having any miscarriages or deaths when they are born (OR, that no enemies will break through our city walls and take us (into exile/to their own countries)). I wish/hope that [there will not be a time when the people in] our streets cry out in distress [because foreign armies are invading].

May our oxen be strong to labor: may there be no breach, nor migration, nor loud complaint in our streets.

15 If good things like that happen to a nation, the people will be very happy. The people whose God is Yahweh are the ones who will be happy!

Happy the people, that fare thus: happy the people, whose God is the Lord.