Psalms 144

1 [By David.] Blessed be YHWH, my Rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle:

I praise Yahweh, who is [like an overhanging] rock [under which I] ([get refuge/am protected])! He trains my hands so that I can use them to fight battles; he trains my fingers so that I can [shoot arrows in a war].

2 my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues peoples under me.

He is the one who protects me; he is [like] a fortress [DOU] in which I am safe, he protects me [like] [protect soldiers] [MET], and he gives me refuge. He defeats [other] nations and [then] puts them under my power.

3 YHWH, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?

Yahweh, [we] people are [very insignificant/unimportant], so why (are you concerned/do you care about us) [RHQ]? [It is amazing to me that] you pay attention to humans.

4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

[The time that we live is as short] as [SIM] a puff of wind; our time to live disappears like a shadow does.

5 Part your heavens, YHWH, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

Yahweh, (tear open/open up) the sky and come down! Touch the mountains in order that smoke will pour out from them!

6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.

Cause lightning to flash with the result that [your enemies] will run away! Shoot your arrows [at them] and cause them to (run away/scatter).

7 Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners;

[It is as though my enemies surround me like] a flood; reach your hand down from heaven and rescue me from them [SYN]. They are men from other countries

8 whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

who [SYN] [always] tell lies. [Even in a courtroom where they swear to tell the truth] they tell lies.

9 I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.

God, I will sing a new song to you, and I will play my ten-stringed harp [while I sing] to you.

10 You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.

You enable kings to defeat [their enemies]; and you rescued me, your servant David, from [being killed by] my enemies’ swords.

11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

[So I ask you to] save me from [being killed by] the swords [that those] evil [people carry]. Rescue me from the power [MTY] of those foreigners who [SYN] [always] tell lies, and [who raise] their right hands [in courtrooms when they solemnly declare that they will tell the truth].

12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

I wish/hope that our young sons will grow up to be like strong plants [SIM], and I wish/hope that our daughters will [grow up to] be [straight and tall] like the pillars [SIM] that stand in the corners of palaces.

13 Our storehouses are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields.

I wish/hope that our barns will be full of many different crops. I wish/hope that the sheep in our fields will give birth to tens of thousands of baby lambs.

14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.

I wish/hope that our cows will give birth to many calves without having any miscarriages or deaths when they are born (OR, that no enemies will break through our city walls and take us (into exile/to their own countries)). I wish/hope that [there will not be a time when the people in] our streets cry out in distress [because foreign armies are invading].

15 Blessed are the people who are in such a situation. Blessed are the people whose God is YHWH.

If good things like that happen to a nation, the people will be very happy. The people whose God is Yahweh are the ones who will be happy!