Psalms 18
1 [For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, ] I love you, Jehovah, 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 Jehovah is my Rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge; 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 Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
Praising, I will call upon the Lord. And I will be saved from my enemies.
4 The waves of death surrounded me, and the currents of ungodliness overwhelmed me.
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 upon Jehovah, and cried out to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry before him came 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 mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
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 went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. 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. Thick darkness was under his feet.
He bent the heavens, and they descended. And darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared 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 hiding place, his canopy around him thick clouds dark with water.
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 passed on, with hailstones and coals of fire.
At the brightness that was before his sight, the clouds crossed by, with hail and coals of fire.
13 Jehovah also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice.
And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out arrows and scattered them, and he shot lightning bolts and routed them.
And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them. He multiplied lightnings, and he set them in disarray.
15 And the depths of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Jehovah, 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 on high. 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, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty 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 came on me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah was my support.
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 Jehovah has 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 Jehovah, 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 ordinances were before me. 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 blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.
And I will be immaculate together with him, and I will keep myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore Jehovah has rewarded 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 faithful you show yourself faithful. With the innocent you show yourself innocent.
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 crooked you show yourself tortuous.
and with the elect, you will be elect, and with the perverse, you will be perverse.
27 For you will save a humble people, but the eyes of the proud you will bring low.
For you will save the humble people, but you will bring down the eyes of the arrogant.
28 For you light my lamp. Jehovah my God lights up my darkness.
For you illuminate my lamp, O Lord. My God, enlighten my darkness.
29 For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap 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 Jehovah is pure. He is a shield to all those who take refuge 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, except Jehovah? Who is a rock, besides our God,
For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God?
32 the God who girds me with strength, and makes my way blameless?
It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate.
33 He makes my feet like deer's 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 my arms bend a bow of bronze.
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 holds me up, and your help 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, My feet have not slipped.
You have expanded my footsteps under me, and my tracks have not been weakened.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and I did not turn back until they were destroyed.
I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them. And I will not turn back until they have failed.
38 I struck them through, so that they did not rise. They fell beneath my feet.
I will break them, and they will not be able to stand. They will fall under my feet.
39 For you have equipped me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who 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 made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who 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; even to Jehovah, but he did not answer them.
They cried out, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he did not heed them.
42 Then I ground them as fine as the dust on the surface of a path. Like the mud in the streets, I trampled them.
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. You have made me the head of the nations. 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 obey me. Foreigners come cringing to me;
A people I did not know has served me. As soon as their ears heard, they were obedient to me.
45 they are not bound in chains.
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 Jehovah lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,
The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted:
47 even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.
O God, who vindicates me and who subdues the people under me, my liberator from my enraged enemies.
48 He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver 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 I will praise you, Jehovah, among the nations, and will 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 He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his descendants, until forever.
magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring, even for all time.
