Psalms 18
1 I will love you, O LORD, my strength.
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.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
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.
3 I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.
Praising, I will call upon the Lord. And I will be saved from my enemies.
4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the torrents of iniquity dismayed me.
The sorrows of Hell encompassed me, and the snares of death intercepted me. (Sheol h7585)
6 In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
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.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
The earth was shaken, and it trembled. The foundations of the mountains were disturbed, and they were shaken, because he was angry with them.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
A smoke ascended by his wrath, and a fire flared up from his face: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
He bent the heavens, and they descended. And darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode on a cherub, and did fly: yes, he did fly on the wings of the wind.
And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew: he flew upon the feathers of the winds.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
And he set darkness as his hiding place, with his tabernacle all around him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
At the brightness that was before his sight, the clouds crossed by, with hail and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.
14 Yes, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightning, and discomfited them.
And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them. He multiplied lightnings, and he set them in disarray.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
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.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
He sent from on high, and he accepted me. And he took me up, out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
He rescued me from my strongest enemies, and from those who hated me. For they had been too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
They intercepted me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my protector.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
And he led me out, into a wide place. He accomplished my salvation, because he willed me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
And the Lord will reward me according to my justice, and he will repay me according to the purity of my hands.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For I have preserved the ways of the Lord, and I have not behaved impiously before my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
For all his judgments are in my sight, and his justice, I have not pushed away from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.
And I will be immaculate together with him, and I will keep myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore has the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.
25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright;
With the holy, you will be holy, and with the innocent, you will be innocent,
26 With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the fraudulent you will show yourself devious.
and with the elect, you will be elect, and with the perverse, you will be perverse.
27 For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks.
For you will save the humble people, but you will bring down the eyes of the arrogant.
28 For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
For you illuminate my lamp, O Lord. My God, enlighten my darkness.
29 For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
For in you, I will be delivered from temptation; and with my God, I will climb over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
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.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God?
32 It is God that girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect.
It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate.
33 He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on my high places.
It is he who has perfected my feet, like the feet of deer, and who stations me upon the heights.
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms.
It is he who trains my hands for battle. And you have set my arms like a bow of brass.
35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great.
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.
36 You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
You have expanded my footsteps under me, and my tracks have not been weakened.
37 I have pursued my enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them. And I will not turn back until they have failed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
I will break them, and they will not be able to stand. They will fall under my feet.
39 For you have girded me with strength to the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me.
And you have wrapped me with virtue for the battle. And those rising up against me, you have subdued under me.
40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
And you have given the back of my enemies to me, and you have destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even to the LORD, but he answered them not.
They cried out, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he did not heed them.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
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.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
You will rescue me from the contradictions of the people. You will set me at the head of the Gentiles.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves to me.
A people I did not know has served me. As soon as their ears heard, they were obedient to me.
45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
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.
46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted:
47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.
O God, who vindicates me and who subdues the people under me, my liberator from my enraged enemies.
48 He delivers me from my enemies: yes, you lift me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.
And you will exalt me above those who rise up against me. From the iniquitous man, you will rescue me.
49 Therefore will I give thanks to you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises to your name.
Because of this, O Lord, I will confess to you among the nations, and I will compose a psalm to your name:
50 Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for ever more.
magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring, even for all time.
