Psalms 18
1 TO THE OVERSEER. BY A SERVANT OF YHWH, BY DAVID, WHO HAS SPOKEN TO YHWH THE WORDS OF THIS SONG IN THE DAY YHWH DELIVERED HIM FROM THE HAND OF ALL HIS ENEMIES, AND FROM THE HAND OF SAUL, AND HE SAYS: I love You, O YHWH, 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 YHWH [is] my rock, and my bulwark, And my deliverer, My God [is] my rock, I trust in Him: My shield, and the horn of my salvation, 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 call on YHWH, the Praised One, And I am saved from my enemies.
Praising, I will call upon the Lord. And I will be saved from my enemies.
4 Cords of death have surrounded me, And streams of the worthless make 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 adversity I call YHWH, And I cry to my God. He hears my voice from His temple, And My cry comes into His ears before Him.
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 And the earth shakes and trembles, And foundations of hills are troubled, And they shake—because He has wrath.
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 Smoke has gone up from His nostrils, And fire from His mouth consumes, Coals have been kindled by it.
A smoke ascended by his wrath, and a fire flared up from his face: coals were kindled by it.
9 And He inclines the heavens, and comes down, And thick darkness [is] under His feet.
He bent the heavens, and they descended. And darkness was under his feet.
10 And He rides on a cherub, and flies, And He flies on wings of wind.
And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew: he flew upon the feathers of the winds.
11 He makes darkness His secret place, Around Him His dwelling place, Darkness of waters, 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 From the brightness before Him His thick clouds have passed on, Hail and coals of fire.
At the brightness that was before his sight, the clouds crossed by, with hail and coals of fire.
13 And YHWH thunders in the heavens, And the Most High gives forth His voice, Hail and coals of fire.
And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.
14 And He sends His arrows and scatters them, And much lightning, and crushes them.
And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them. He multiplied lightnings, and he set them in disarray.
15 And the streams of waters are seen, And foundations of the earth are revealed, From Your rebuke, O YHWH, From the breath of the wind of Your anger.
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 sends from above—He takes me, He draws 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 delivers me from my strong enemy, And from those hating me, For they have been stronger than I.
He rescued me from my strongest enemies, and from those who hated me. For they had been too strong for me.
18 They go before me in a day of my calamity And YHWH is for a support to me.
They intercepted me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my protector.
19 And He brings me forth to a large place, He draws me out, because He delighted in me.
And he led me out, into a wide place. He accomplished my salvation, because he willed me.
20 YHWH repays me According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, He returns to 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 YHWH, And have not done wickedly against 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 [are] before me, And I do not turn His statutes from me.
For all his judgments are in my sight, and his justice, I have not pushed away from me.
23 And I am perfect with Him, And I keep myself from my iniquity.
And I will be immaculate together with him, and I will keep myself from my iniquity.
24 And YHWH returns to me, According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, Before His eyes.
And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.
25 With the kind You show Yourself kind, With a perfect man You show Yourself perfect.
With the holy, you will be holy, and with the innocent, you will be innocent,
26 With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the perverse You show Yourself a wrestler,
and with the elect, you will be elect, and with the perverse, you will be perverse.
27 For You save a poor people, And cause the eyes of the high to fall.
For you will save the humble people, but you will bring down the eyes of the arrogant.
28 For You light my lamp, My God YHWH enlightens my darkness.
For you illuminate my lamp, O Lord. My God, enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I run [against] a troop! And by my God I leap a wall.
For in you, I will be delivered from temptation; and with my God, I will climb over a wall.
30 God—perfect [is] His way, The saying of YHWH is tried, He [is] a shield to all those trusting 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 besides YHWH? And who [is] a rock except our God?
For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God?
32 God—who is girding me [with] strength, And He makes my way perfect.
It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate.
33 Making my feet like does, And on my high places causes me to stand.
It is he who has perfected my feet, like the feet of deer, and who stations me upon the heights.
34 Teaching my hands for battle, And a bow of bronze was brought down by my arms.
It is he who trains my hands for battle. And you have set my arms like a bow of brass.
35 And You give to me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand supports me, And Your lowliness makes 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 enlarge my step under me, And my ankles have not slipped.
You have expanded my footsteps under me, and my tracks have not been weakened.
37 I pursue my enemies, and overtake them, And do not turn back until they are consumed.
I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them. And I will not turn back until they have failed.
38 I strike them, and they are not able to rise, They fall under my feet,
I will break them, and they will not be able to stand. They will fall under my feet.
39 And You gird me [with] strength for battle, You cause my withstanders to bow under me.
And you have wrapped me with virtue for the battle. And those rising up against me, you have subdued under me.
40 As for my enemies—You have given to me the neck, As for those hating me—I cut them off.
And you have given the back of my enemies to me, and you have destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cry, and there is no savior, On YHWH, and He does not answer them.
They cried out, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he did not heed them.
42 And I beat them as dust before wind, I empty them out as mire of 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 deliver me From the strivings of the people, You place me for a head of nations, A people I have not known serve me.
You will rescue me from the contradictions of the people. You will set me at the head of the Gentiles.
44 At the hearing of the ear they listen to me, Sons of a stranger feign obedience to me,
A people I did not know has served me. As soon as their ears heard, they were obedient to me.
45 Sons of a stranger fade away, And are slain 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 YHWH lives—and blessed [is] my rock, And exalted is the God of my salvation.
The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted:
47 God—who is giving vengeance to me, And He subdues peoples under me,
O God, who vindicates me and who subdues the people under me, my liberator from my enraged enemies.
48 My deliverer from my enemies, You raise me above my withstanders, Deliver me from a man of violence.
And you will exalt me above those who rise up against me. From the iniquitous man, you will rescue me.
49 Therefore I confess You among nations, O YHWH, And I sing praise 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 Magnifying the salvation of His king, And doing kindness to His anointed, To David, and to his seed—for all time!
magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring, even for all time.
