Psalms 18:1-50
1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength,a in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly menb made me afraid.
5 The sorrowsc of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,d and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of manye waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.f
27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
28 For thou wilt light my candle:g the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried:h he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentlenessi hath made me great.
36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feetj did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subduedk under me those that rose up against me.
40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangersl shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avengethm me, and subdueth the people under me.
48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violentn man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
XVIII. See p. 367 for the reasons which make it impossible to ascribe this Ps. to David. Even scholars who hold traditional views admit that he cannot have written it as it stands, and that additional matter has been interpolated by later scribes. The language, which is Aramaic in its colouring, confirms the view that it is late, and so does the theophany in Psalms 18:3 when compared with Deuteronomy 32. Possibly a later writer composed it and put it by a very permissible license in David's mouth. If so, he paints David not as he was, but as a later age conceived him to be, a warrior on the one hand, a strict observer of the Law upon the other. The portrait would then agree with that given in Chronicles. It is, however, quite as likely that the Ps. is intended to glorify the success of a hero in the Maccabean age, the first time known in which legal piety was united with leadership in battles. Little is to be said for the view that the writer speaks in the name of the Jewish nation.
We have another recension in 2 Samuel 22. There are numerous divergences which testify to the uncertain state of the text here and by inference elsewhere. The Ps. and the last words of David that follow it are a late insertion in 2 S. They destroy the connexion between 2 Samuel 21:22; 2 Samuel 23:8.
Psalms 18:1. Introductory. 1 is absent in 2 S. which, on the other hand, adds at the end of Psalms 18:2, And my refuge, my saviour that savest me from violence.
Psalms 18:2. the horn of my salvation: i.e. the weapon which secures victory. The metaphor is taken from a bull's horn.
Psalms 18:5. Read with 2 S., breakers of death for snares of death.
Psalms 18:6. the heavenly palace is meant.
Psalms 18:7. Yahweh appears.
Psalms 18:10. For the cherubim, who bore the throne of Yahweh from place to place, see Ezekiel 1. The word cherub and the idea it represents were probably borrowed from the Babylonian winged bulls which were the protecting genii of the house (Genesis 3:24 *, Isaiah 6:2 *). In Judges 5:4 f. Yahweh strides northwards to help His people.
Psalms 18:12. Translate without radiance before him thick clouds passed.
Psalms 18:20. Yahweh has rewarded the Psalmist for his strict observance of the Law, and this is the general principle of His government.
Psalms 18:26 b. Cf. 1 Kings 22:20; 2 Samuel 24:1, and contrast Laotse, the Chinese sage, in Grill's translation. I deal well with him who deals well with me: I deal well likewise with him who is not good. To repay injury with kindness is indeed a principle with Laotse. He was born in 604 B.C.
Psalms 18:28. In 2 S. Thou art my lamp, O Yahweh.
Psalms 18:29. Leap over a wall, i.e. of a besieged city.
Psalms 18:31. The Psalmist recurs to a success in battle given by Yahweh.
Psalms 18:35. Thy gentleness hath made me great. Unparallelled in OT. 2 S. points differently, thy answer, i.e. to my prayer. The LXX also point differently, thy discipline has made me great.
Psalms 18:41. The Psalmist's foes call on Yahweh and must therefore have been at least in part Jews or Samaritans.
Psalms 18:46. Ascription of praise.