Psalm 144

Psalm 144

Prayer for National Deliverance and Security

Of David.

¹Blessed be the Lord, my rock,

who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,^*

²my rock^p and my fortress,

my stronghold and my deliverer,

my shield, in whom I take refuge,

who subdues the peoples^q under me.^*

³O Lord, what are humans that you regard them,

or mortals that you think of them?^*

⁴They are like a breath;

their days are like a passing shadow.^*

⁵Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;

touch the mountains so that they smoke.^*

⁶Make the lightning flash and scatter them;

send out your arrows and rout them.^*

⁷Stretch out your hand from on high;

set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters,

from the hand of foreigners,^*

⁸whose mouths speak lies

and whose right hands are false.^*

⁹I will sing a new song to you, O God;

upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,^*

¹⁰the one who gives victory to kings,

who rescues his servant David.^*

¹¹Rescue me from the cruel sword,

and deliver me from the hand of aliens,

whose mouths speak lies,

and whose right hands are false.^*

¹²May our sons in their youth

be like plants full grown,

our daughters like corner pillars,

cut for the building of a palace.^*

¹³May our barns be filled

with produce of every kind;

may our sheep increase by thousands,

by tens of thousands in our fields,

¹⁴and may our cattle be heavy with young.

May there be no breach in the walls,^r no exile,

and no cry of distress in our streets.

¹⁵Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall;

happy are the people whose God is the Lord.^*