Psalms 18
1 Unto the end. For David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this canticle to the Lord, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said: I will love you, O Lord my strength.
Yahweh, I love you, the one who enables me to be strong.
2 The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my liberator. My God is my helper, and I hope in him: my protector, and the horn of my salvation, and my support.
Yahweh is like an [overhanging] rock [DOU, MET] [under which I can hide from my enemies]; he is like a strong fortress, the one who protects me; he protects me like a shield [MET] [protects a soldier]; he is the one to whom I go (for refuge/to be protected/safe), and he defends me by his great power [IDM].
3 Praising, I will call upon the Lord. And I will be saved from my enemies.
I called out to Yahweh, who deserves to be praised, and he rescued me from my enemies.
4 The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the torrents of iniquity dismayed me.
All around me were dangerous situations in which I might be killed [PRS]; it was as though there were huge waves [MET] that almost crashed on me and killed me.
[It was as though] the place where dead people are had ropes that were wrapped around me, or [it was as though] there was a trap [MET] that would [seize and] kill me. (Sheol h7585)
6 In my tribulation, I called upon the Lord, and I cried out to my God. And he listened to my voice from his holy temple. And my cry in his presence entered into his ears.
But when I was very distressed, I called out to Yahweh, and from his temple he heard me. He listened to me when I cried out [for help].
7 The earth was shaken, and it trembled. The foundations of the mountains were disturbed, and they were shaken, because he was angry with them.
Then the earth quaked/shook strongly [DOU]; the mountains shook very strongly from their centers [DOU] because Yahweh was angry.
8 A smoke ascended by his wrath, and a fire flared up from his face: coals were kindled by it.
[It was as though] smoke poured out from his nostrils, and [as though] burning coals came out of his mouth.
9 He bent the heavens, and they descended. And darkness was under his feet.
He opened the sky and came down with a black cloud under his feet.
10 And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew: he flew upon the feathers of the winds.
He flew, riding on the back of a creature that had wings, traveling [fast], blown along by the wind.
11 And he set darkness as his hiding place, with his tabernacle all around him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.
Darkness was all around him [like a blanket] [MET]; dark clouds, full of moisture, covered him [MET].
12 At the brightness that was before his sight, the clouds crossed by, with hail and coals of fire.
Hailstones and flashes of lightning were around him; hail and burning coals fell from the sky.
13 And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.
Then Yahweh [spoke in a loud voice] from the sky, and [his enemies] heard his voice that sounded like thunder.
14 And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them. He multiplied lightnings, and he set them in disarray.
He shot his arrows at them and caused them to scatter; His flashes of lightning caused them to become very confused (OR, to run away).
15 Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were revealed, by your rebuke, O Lord, by the inspiration of the Spirit of your wrath.
The bottom of the ocean became visible, and the foundations of the earth were uncovered, when Yahweh rebuked his enemies when he snorted.
16 He sent from on high, and he accepted me. And he took me up, out of many waters.
[It was as though] he reached down from heaven and grabbed me and pulled me up out of the deep ocean.
17 He rescued me from my strongest enemies, and from those who hated me. For they had been too strong for me.
He rescued me from my strong enemies who hated me; they were very strong, with the result that I [could not defeat them].
18 They intercepted me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my protector.
When I (was distressed/had troubles), they attacked me, but Yahweh defended/protected me.
19 And he led me out, into a wide place. He accomplished my salvation, because he willed me.
He led me to a place where I was safe; he rescued me because he was pleased with me.
20 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice, and he will repay me according to the purity of my hands.
Yahweh has rewarded me because I do what is right; he has blessed me because I (am innocent/have not done things that are wrong).
21 For I have preserved the ways of the Lord, and I have not behaved impiously before my God.
I have obeyed Yahweh’s laws; I have not abandoned him.
22 For all his judgments are in my sight, and his justice, I have not pushed away from me.
My behavior was directed by his rules; I have not stopped obeying them.
23 And I will be immaculate together with him, and I will keep myself from my iniquity.
He knows that I have not done what is wrong; I have kept myself from sinning.
24 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.
So he rewards me because I do what is right; he knows that I [SYN] have not committed sins.
25 With the holy, you will be holy, and with the innocent, you will be innocent,
Yahweh, you are faithful to those who faithfully [do what you tell them to do]; you always do what is good/right to those who do what you want them to do.
26 and with the elect, you will be elect, and with the perverse, you will be perverse.
You are kind to those who are kind to others, but you act wisely toward those who (act perversely/do bad things).
27 For you will save the humble people, but you will bring down the eyes of the arrogant.
You save those who are humble, but you cause those who are proud to be humiliated/ashamed.
28 For you illuminate my lamp, O Lord. My God, enlighten my darkness.
You give light to my [soul/spirit]; you take away the darkness of my soul.
29 For in you, I will be delivered from temptation; and with my God, I will climb over a wall.
You enable me to be strong, with the result that I can run and attack a line of enemy soldiers; with your help I can (scale/climb up) the walls [that surround my enemies’ cities].
30 As for my God, his way is undefiled. The eloquence of the Lord has been examined by fire. He is the protector of all who hope in him.
Everything that Yahweh my God does is perfect. We can depend on him to do what he promises. He is like a shield [MET] to protect all those who go to him for refuge.
31 For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God?
Yahweh is [RHQ] the only one who is God; only he is like an [overhanging] rock [under which we can be safe].
32 It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate.
God is the one who enables me to be strong and who keeps me safe on the roads that I walk on.
33 It is he who has perfected my feet, like the feet of deer, and who stations me upon the heights.
He enables me to [walk swiftly without stumbling], like a deer walks/runs in the mountains.
34 It is he who trains my hands for battle. And you have set my arms like a bow of brass.
He teaches me how to use a strong/metal bow in order that I can use it to fight in battles.
35 And you have given me the protection of your salvation. And your right hand sustains me. And your discipline has corrected me unto the end. And your discipline itself will teach me.
Yahweh, you protect and save me with your shield; you have made me safe by your power [MTY]. I have become (strong/a great [king]) because you have helped me.
36 You have expanded my footsteps under me, and my tracks have not been weakened.
You have cleared the road for me, with the result that now I do not slip/stumble.
37 I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them. And I will not turn back until they have failed.
I have pursued my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until I had defeated/killed them all.
38 I will break them, and they will not be able to stand. They will fall under my feet.
When I strike them, they are not able to get up again; they lie on the ground, defeated.
39 And you have wrapped me with virtue for the battle. And those rising up against me, you have subdued under me.
You have enabled me to be strong in order that I can fight battles and defeat my enemies.
40 And you have given the back of my enemies to me, and you have destroyed those who hated me.
You caused my enemies to run away (OR, you enabled me to put my foot on my enemies’ necks [after I captured them and forced them to lie on the ground]); I have gotten rid of all those who hated me.
41 They cried out, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he did not heed them.
They called out for someone to help them, but no one saved them.
42 And I will crush them into dust before the face of the wind, so that I will obliterate them like the mud in the streets.
I pulverize them, with the result that they become like [MET] the dust that the wind [blows away]; I throw them out like [SIM] [people throw] dirt out into the streets.
43 You will rescue me from the contradictions of the people. You will set me at the head of the Gentiles.
You enabled me to defeat those who fought against me, and appointed me to be the ruler of [many]; people whom I did not know about previously are now slaves [in my kingdom].
44 A people I did not know has served me. As soon as their ears heard, they were obedient to me.
When foreigners hear about me, they (cringe/bow low before me) and they obey me.
45 The sons of foreigners have been deceitful to me, the sons of foreigners have grown weak with time, and they have wavered from their paths.
They are no longer courageous, and from their forts [where they were hiding] they come [to me] trembling.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted:
Yahweh is alive! Praise the one who is like an [overhanging] rock [MET] [under which I am safe] Exalt the God who saves me!
47 O God, who vindicates me and who subdues the people under me, my liberator from my enraged enemies.
He enables me to get revenge on my enemies; he causes me to defeat nations and to rule over them,
48 And you will exalt me above those who rise up against me. From the iniquitous man, you will rescue me.
and he rescues me from my enemies. He has lifted me up high so that violent men could not reach me [and harm me].
49 Because of this, O Lord, I will confess to you among the nations, and I will compose a psalm to your name:
So I praise him [and I tell] the nations [the great things that he has done].
50 magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring, even for all time.
He has enabled me, his king, to powerfully defeat my enemies; he faithfully loves me, David, the one he has chosen [to be king], and he will faithfully love my descendants forever.
