Psalms 18
1 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.
To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. And he said, I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength.
2 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.
Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
3 Praising, I will call upon the Lord. And I will be saved from my enemies.
I will call upon Jehovah, who is to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4 The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the torrents of iniquity dismayed me.
The bands of death encompassed me, and torrents of Belial made me afraid.
The bands of Sheol surrounded me, the cords of death encountered me. (Sheol h7585)
6 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.
In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and I cried out to my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth was shaken, and it trembled. The foundations of the mountains were disturbed, and they were shaken, because he was angry with them.
Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook, because he was wroth.
8 A smoke ascended by his wrath, and a fire flared up from his face: coals were kindled by it.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals burned forth from it.
9 He bent the heavens, and they descended. And darkness was under his feet.
And he bowed the heavens, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew: he flew upon the feathers of the winds.
And he rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he flew fast upon the wings of the wind.
11 And he set darkness as his hiding place, with his tabernacle all around him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.
He made darkness his secret place, his tent round about him: darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before his sight, the clouds crossed by, with hail and coals of fire.
From the brightness before him his thick clouds passed forth: hail and coals of fire.
13 And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.
And Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.
14 And he sent forth his arrows and scattered them. He multiplied lightnings, and he set them in disarray.
And he sent his arrows, and scattered [mine enemies]; and he shot forth lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 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.
And the beds of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were uncovered at thy rebuke, Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, and he accepted me. And he took me up, out of many waters.
He reached forth from above, he took me, he drew me out of great waters:
17 He rescued me from my strongest enemies, and from those who hated me. For they had been too strong for me.
He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me; for they were mightier than I.
18 They intercepted me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my protector.
They encountered me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah was my stay.
19 And he led me out, into a wide place. He accomplished my salvation, because he willed me.
And he brought me forth into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice, and he will repay me according to the purity of my hands.
Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21 For I have preserved the ways of the Lord, and I have not behaved impiously before my God.
For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments are in my sight, and his justice, I have not pushed away from me.
For all his ordinances were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me;
23 And I will be immaculate together with him, and I will keep myself from my iniquity.
And I was upright with him, and kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 And the Lord will reward me according to my justice and according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.
And Jehovah hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With the holy, you will be holy, and with the innocent, you will be innocent,
With the gracious thou dost shew thyself gracious; with the upright man thou dost shew thyself upright;
26 and with the elect, you will be elect, and with the perverse, you will be perverse.
With the pure thou dost shew thyself pure; and with the perverse thou dost shew thyself contrary.
27 For you will save the humble people, but you will bring down the eyes of the arrogant.
For it is thou that savest the afflicted people; but the haughty eyes wilt thou bring down.
28 For you illuminate my lamp, O Lord. My God, enlighten my darkness.
For it is thou that makest my lamp to shine: Jehovah my God enlighteneth my darkness.
29 For in you, I will be delivered from temptation; and with my God, I will climb over a wall.
For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 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.
As for God, his way is perfect; the word of Jehovah is tried: he is a shield to all that trust in him.
31 For who is God, except the Lord? And who is God, except our God?
For who is God save Jehovah? and who is a rock if not our God?
32 It is God who has wrapped me with virtue and made my way immaculate.
The God who girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect,
33 It is he who has perfected my feet, like the feet of deer, and who stations me upon the heights.
Who maketh my feet like hinds' [feet], and setteth me upon my high places;
34 It is he who trains my hands for battle. And you have set my arms like a bow of brass.
Who teacheth my hands to war, and mine arms bend a bow of brass;
35 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.
And thou didst give me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand held me up; and thy condescending gentleness hath made me great.
36 You have expanded my footsteps under me, and my tracks have not been weakened.
Thou didst enlarge my steps under me, and mine ankles have not wavered.
37 I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them. And I will not turn back until they have failed.
I pursued mine enemies, and overtook them; and I turned not again till they were consumed.
38 I will break them, and they will not be able to stand. They will fall under my feet.
I crushed them, and they were not able to rise: they fell under my feet.
39 And you have wrapped me with virtue for the battle. And those rising up against me, you have subdued under me.
And thou girdedst me with strength to battle; thou didst subdue under me those that rose up against me.
40 And you have given the back of my enemies to me, and you have destroyed those who hated me.
And mine enemies didst thou make to turn their backs unto me, and those that hated me I destroyed.
41 They cried out, but there was none to save them, to the Lord, but he did not heed them.
They cried, and there was none to save; — unto Jehovah, and he answered them not.
42 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.
And I did beat them small as dust before the wind; I did cast them out as the mire of the streets.
43 You will rescue me from the contradictions of the people. You will set me at the head of the Gentiles.
Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; thou hast made me the head of the nations: a people I knew not doth serve me.
44 A people I did not know has served me. As soon as their ears heard, they were obedient to me.
At the hearing of the ear, they obey me: strangers come cringing unto me.
45 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.
Strangers have faded away, and they come trembling forth from their close places.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed is my God, and may the God of my salvation be exalted:
Jehovah liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 O God, who vindicates me and who subdues the people under me, my liberator from my enraged enemies.
The God who hath avenged me, and hath subjected the peoples to me;
48 And you will exalt me above those who rise up against me. From the iniquitous man, you will rescue me.
Who hath delivered me from mine enemies: yea, thou hast lifted me up above them that rose up against me; from the man of violence hast thou delivered me.
49 Because of this, O Lord, I will confess to you among the nations, and I will compose a psalm to your name:
Therefore will I give thanks to thee, Jehovah, among the nations, and will sing psalms to thy name.
50 magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring, even for all time.
[It is he] who giveth great deliverances to his king, and sheweth loving-kindness to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
