Psalms 144

1 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].

Of David. Blessed be the LORD, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.

2 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.

He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. He is my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

3 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.

O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him?

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

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

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

Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

6 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).

Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.

7 [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

Reach down from on high; set me free and rescue me from the deep waters, from the grasp of foreigners,

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

whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.

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

I will sing to You a new song, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will make music to You—

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

to Him who gives victory to kings, who frees His servant David from the deadly sword.

11 [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].

Set me free and rescue me from the grasp of foreigners, whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.

12 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.

Then our sons will be like plants nurtured in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved to adorn a palace.

13 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.

Our storehouses will be full, supplying all manner of produce; our flocks will bring forth thousands, tens of thousands in our fields.

14 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].

Our oxen will bear great loads. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our streets.

15 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!

Blessed are the people of whom this is so; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.