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.
For the leader. Of David, the servant of the Lord, who recited the words of this song to the Lord after the Lord had saved him from the power of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I 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 rock, my fortress, deliverer, my God, my rock, where I take refuge, my shield, my defender, my tower.
3 I call on YHWH, the Praised One, And I am saved from my enemies.
Worthy of praise is the Lord whom I call on, he rescues me from all my foes.
4 Cords of death have surrounded me, And streams of the worthless make me afraid.
The waves of death broke about me, fearful floods of chaos.
Sheol threw cords around me, snares of death came to meet 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 distress I cried to the Lord, and shouted for help to my God; in his temple he heard my voice, into his ears came my cry.
7 And the earth shakes and trembles, And foundations of hills are troubled, And they shake—because He has wrath.
Then the earth shook and quaked, mountains trembled to their foundations, and quaked because of his wrath.
8 Smoke has gone up from His nostrils, And fire from His mouth consumes, Coals have been kindled by it.
Smoke went up from his nostrils, devouring fire from his mouth, coals were kindled by it.
9 And He inclines the heavens, and comes down, And thick darkness [is] under His feet.
Then he bent the sky and came down, thick darkness was under his feet.
10 And He rides on a cherub, and flies, And He flies on wings of wind.
He rode on a cherub and flew, darting on wings of wind,
11 He makes darkness His secret place, Around Him His dwelling place, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
with his screen of darkness about him, in thick dark clouds of water.
12 From the brightness before Him His thick clouds have passed on, Hail and coals of fire.
At the radiance before him there passed hailstones and coals of fire.
13 And YHWH thunders in the heavens, And the Most High gives forth His voice, Hail and coals of fire.
The Lord thundered from heaven, the Most High uttered his voice.
14 And He sends His arrows and scatters them, And much lightning, and crushes them.
He shot his arrows and scattered them, flashed lightnings, and routed them.
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.
The channels of the sea were revealed, the world was laid bare to its base, at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sends from above—He takes me, He draws me out of many waters.
He stretched from on high, he seized me, drew me up from the mighty waters,
17 He delivers me from my strong enemy, And from those hating me, For they have been stronger than I.
and saved me from those who hated me – fierce foes, too mighty for me.
18 They go before me in a day of my calamity And YHWH is for a support to me.
In my day of distress they assailed me, but the Lord proved my support.
19 And He brings me forth to a large place, He draws me out, because He delighted in me.
To a spacious place he brought me, and, for love of me, he saved me.
20 YHWH repays me According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, He returns to me.
The Lord repays my innocence, he rewards my cleanness of hands.
21 For I have kept the ways of YHWH, And have not done wickedly against my God.
For I kept the ways of the Lord, nor have wickedly strayed from my God.
22 For all His judgments [are] before me, And I do not turn His statutes from me.
His commandments were all before me, his statutes I put not away.
23 And I am perfect with Him, And I keep myself from my iniquity.
And I was blameless before him, guarding myself from sin.
24 And YHWH returns to me, According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, Before His eyes.
So the Lord repaid my innocence, my cleanness of hands in his sight.
25 With the kind You show Yourself kind, With a perfect man You show Yourself perfect.
With the loyal you are loyal, and with the blameless blameless.
26 With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the perverse You show Yourself a wrestler,
With the pure you show yourself pure, but shrewd with the devious.
27 For You save a poor people, And cause the eyes of the high to fall.
For the lowly people you save, but haughty eyes you abase.
28 For You light my lamp, My God YHWH enlightens my darkness.
You are my lamp, Lord, my God who enlightens my darkness.
29 For by You I run [against] a troop! And by my God I leap a wall.
With you I can storm a rampart, with my God I can leap 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 God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is shield to all who take refuge in him.
31 For who [is] God besides YHWH? And who [is] a rock except our God?
For who is God but the Lord? And who is a rock but our God?
32 God—who is girding me [with] strength, And He makes my way perfect.
The God who arms me with strength, who cleared and smoothed my way.
33 Making my feet like does, And on my high places causes me to stand.
He made my feet like hinds’ feet, and set me up on the heights.
34 Teaching my hands for battle, And a bow of bronze was brought down by my arms.
He taught my hands how to fight, and my arms how to bend a bronze bow.
35 And You give to me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand supports me, And Your lowliness makes me great.
The shield of your help you gave me, your right hand supports me, you stoop down to make me great.
36 You enlarge my step under me, And my ankles have not slipped.
In your strength I took giant strides, and my feet never slipped.
37 I pursue my enemies, and overtake them, And do not turn back until they are consumed.
So I chased the foe till I caught them, and turned not, till I made an end of them.
38 I strike them, and they are not able to rise, They fall under my feet,
I smashed them, they could not rise, they fell beneath my feet.
39 And You gird me [with] strength for battle, You cause my withstanders to bow under me.
You did arm me with strength for war, you did bow my assailants beneath me.
40 As for my enemies—You have given to me the neck, As for those hating me—I cut them off.
You made my foes turn their back to me, and those who did hate me I finished.
41 They cry, and there is no savior, On YHWH, and He does not answer them.
They cried for help, but none saved them; to the Lord, but he answered them not.
42 And I beat them as dust before wind, I empty them out as mire of the streets.
I beat them like dust of the market-place, stamped them like mud of 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.
From the strife of the peoples you saved me, you made me head of the nations, peoples I knew not did serve me.
44 At the hearing of the ear they listen to me, Sons of a stranger feign obedience to me,
On the instant they hear, they obey me, foreigners come to me cringing.
45 Sons of a stranger fade away, And are slain out of their close places.
Foreigners lose courage, and come out of their strongholds trembling.
46 YHWH lives—and blessed [is] my rock, And exalted is the God of my salvation.
The Lord is alive! Blest be my rock! Exalted be God, my protector!
47 God—who is giving vengeance to me, And He subdues peoples under me,
The God who gave me revenge, and brought down nations beneath me,
48 My deliverer from my enemies, You raise me above my withstanders, Deliver me from a man of violence.
who saved me from angry foes, and set me above my assailants, safe from the violent.
49 Therefore I confess You among nations, O YHWH, And I sing praise to Your Name,
For this I will praise you among the nations, making music, O Lord, 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!
for great triumphs he grants to his king, and faithful love he shows his anointed, to David and his seed evermore.
