Psalms 18:43

from the strivings of the people 2 Sam. has "from the strivings of my people," and the reference seems to be to the civil war and internal dissension which disturbed the early years of David's reign, while Saul's house still endeavoured to maintain its position. See 2 Samuel 3:1. Through all these conflicts he had been safely brought, and made the head of the nations, supreme among surrounding peoples, See 2 Samuel 8:1-14; Psalms 2:8.

thou hast made me In 2 Sam. "thou hast preserved me to be the head of the nations."

a peoplewhom I have not known shall serve me Rather, a people whom I knew not did serve meb. There is no reason for the sudden transition of the A.V. to the future here and in the two following verses. David is still thankfully recounting how God had raised him to his present eminence. There may be a special reference to the subjugation of the Syrians and their allies, whom he might well describe as "a people whom he had not known." See 2 Samuel 8:6; 2 Samuel 10:19.