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].

A psalm of David. Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

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.

You are my covenant faithfulness and my fortress, my high tower and the one who rescues me, my shield and the one in whom I take refuge, the one who subdues nations 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.

Yahweh, what is man that you take notice of him or the son of man that you think about 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 a 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!

Cause the sky to sink and come down, Yahweh; touch the mountains and make them 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).

Send flashes of lightning and scatter my enemies; shoot your arrows and drive them back in confusion.

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

Reach out your hand from above; rescue me out of many waters, from the hand of foreigners.

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

Their mouths speak lies, and their right hand is falsehood.

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

I will sing a new song to you, God; on a lute of ten strings I will sing praises to you,

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

who give salvation to kings, who rescued David your servant from an evil 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].

Rescue me and free me from the hand of foreigners. Their mouths speak lies, and their right hand is 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.

May our sons be like plants who grow to full size in their youth and our daughters like carved corner pillars, shapely like those 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 storehouses be full with every kind of produce, and may our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields.

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].

Then our oxen will have many young. No one will break through our walls; there will be no exile and no outcry 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!

Blessed is the people with such blessings; happy is the people whose God is Yahweh.