Psalm 18

Psalm 18

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, ^athe servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of ^bthis song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,

^1bbI will love thee, O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

My God, ^†my strength, ^cin whom I will trust;

My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

³I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised:

So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

⁴The ^||sorrows of death compassed me,

And the floods of ^†ungodly men made me afraid.

⁵The ^||sorrows of hell compassed me about:

The snares of death ^dprevented me.

^6ddIn 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.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations also ^eof the hills moved

And were shaken, because he was wroth.

⁸There went up a smoke ^†out of his nostrils,

And ^ffire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down:

And darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:

Yea, he did ^gfly upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his secret place;

His pavilion round about him

Were ^hdark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

¹²At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed,

ⁱHail stones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord also thundered in the heavens,

And the Highest gave his voice;

ⁱHail stones and coals of fire.

¹⁴Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;

And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

¹⁵Then ^jthe 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.

¹⁶He sent from above, he took me,

He drew me out of ^||many waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from them which hated me: ^jjfor they were too strong for me.

¹⁸They ^dprevented me in the day of my calamity:

But the Lord was my stay.

¹⁹He brought me forth also into a large place;

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all his judgments were before me,

And ^kI did not put away his statutes from me.

²³I was also upright ^†before him,

And I kept myself from mine iniquity.

²⁴Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness,

According to the cleanness of my hands ^†in his eyesight.

²⁵With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful;

With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

²⁶With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;

And with the froward thou wilt ^||shew thyself froward.

²⁷For thou wilt save the afflicted people;

But wilt bring down ^lhigh looks.

²⁸For thou wilt ^lllight my ^||candle:

The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

²⁹For by thee I have ^||run through a troop;

And by my God have I leaped over a wall.

³⁰As for God, his way is perfect:

The word of the Lord is ^||tried:

He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

³¹For who is God save the Lord?

Or who is a rock save our God?

³²It is God that ^mngirdeth me with strength,

And ⁿmaketh my way perfect.

³³He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,

And setteth me upon my high places.

³⁴He teacheth my hands to war,

So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

³⁵Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:

^oAnd thy right hand hath ^pholden me up,

And ^||thy gentleness hath made me great.

³⁶Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,

That ^†my feet did not slip.

³⁷I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them:

Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

³⁸I have wounded them that they were not able to rise:

They are fallen under my feet.

³⁹For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle:

Thou hast ^†subdued under me those that rose up against me.

⁴⁰Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies;

That I might destroy them that hate me.

^41qThey cried, but there was none to save them:

Even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

⁴²Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind:

I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

⁴³Thou 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 strangers shall fade away,

And be afraid out of their close places.

⁴⁶The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock;

And let the God of my salvation be exalted.

⁴⁷It is God that ^†avengeth me,

And ^||rsubdueth the people under me.

⁴⁸He delivereth me from mine enemies:

Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me:

Thou hast delivered me from the ^†violent man.

^49sTherefore will I ^||tgive thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen,

And sing praises unto thy name.

⁵⁰Great deliverance giveth he to his king;

And sheweth mercy to ^uhis anointed,

To David, and to his seed for evermore.