^1aTo the choirmaster.↑

A Psalm of the servant of the Lord, of David who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from Saul's hand. ^1bAnd he said,

“I will cherish you,

O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my rock and my fortress

And my deliverer,

My God and my firm ground.

I will put my trust in him

– My shield and the horn of my salvation

And my high stronghold.

³I will call on the praiseworthy Lord,

And I will be saved from my enemies.

⁴The tightening grip of death surrounded me,

And the onslaughts of the reprobate alarmed me.

⁵The tightening grip of the grave encompassed me;

Deadly snares confronted me.

⁶When I was in a strait,

I called on the Lord,

And I cried out to my God.

He heard my voice from his temple,

And my cry came before him to his ears.

⁷And the earth shook and trembled,

And the foundations of mountains quaked and shook,

Because he was furious.

⁸Smoke went up in his nostrils,

And fire from his mouth came devouring;

Coals were kindled by him.

⁹And he stretched out the heavens and descended,

And thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰And he rode on a cherub and flew

And swooped down on the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his hiding place;

Around him as his booth

Was the darkness of water

And the thick clouds of the upper skies.

¹²At the brightness ahead of him

His thick clouds pass along

With their hail and fiery coals.

¹³And the Lord thundered in the heavens,

And the Most High sounded his voice

With hail and fiery coals.

¹⁴And he sent his arrows

And scattered them,

And he shot lightning bolts

And routed them.

¹⁵Then channels of water appeared,

And the foundations of the world were revealed

At your rebuke, O Lord

– At the blast of the wind from your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent help from on high,

And he took hold of me;

He drew me out of great waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy

And from those who hate me,

For they were stronger than I was.

¹⁸They confronted me on my day of distress,

But the Lord became a support for me,

¹⁹And he brought me out to a wide place;

He delivered me,

Because he delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord recompensed me

According to my righteousness;

According to the cleanness of my hands

He rewarded me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

And I have not committed wickedness against my God.

²²For all his injunctions were before me,

And I have not neglected his statutes.

²³And I was perfect with him,

And I kept myself from iniquity,

²⁴And the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness

– According to the cleanness of my hands

Before his eyes.

²⁵With the kind, you will act kindly;

With the perfect man, you will act in perfection.

²⁶With the pure, you will act in purity,

But with the perverse, you will act in a convoluted way.

²⁷For you will save an afflicted people,

And you will bring haughty eyes low.

²⁸For you light up my lamp;

The Lord my God brightens my darkness.

²⁹For through you I can run through a battalion,

And through my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God, his way is perfect.

The word of the Lord has been refined.

He is a shield to all who trust in him.

³¹For who is God

Apart from the Lord?

And who is a rock,

Except for our God?

³²It is God who girds me with valour,

Who makes my way perfect,

³³Who makes my feet like those of hinds

And stands me on my heights,

³⁴Who teaches my hands the skills of war

So a copper bow can be drawn by my arms.

³⁵And you gave me the shield of your salvation,

While your right hand gives me support,

And your meekness makes me great.

³⁶You enlarged my step under me,

And my ankles did not slip.

³⁷I pursued my enemies

And caught up with them,

And I did not return

Until I had made an end of them.

³⁸I crushed them

So that they could not get up.

They fell under my feet.

³⁹And you girded me with valour for war;

You brought down my opponents under me,

⁴⁰And you gave me the neck of my enemies.

And as for those who hate me,

I cut them down.

⁴¹They cried out,

But there was no saviour;

They looked to the Lord,

But he did not answer them.

⁴²And I pulverized them like the dust,

Carried along by the wind.

I disposed of them

Like the filth of the streets.

⁴³You delivered me from the contentions of a people;

You set me at the head of nations.

A people that I did not know

Will serve me.

⁴⁴At bidding coming to their ears,

They will obey me.

Foreigners will feign obedience to me.

⁴⁵Foreigners will fade away;

They will be wrenched out of their confines.

⁴⁶How the Lord lives,

And my rock is blessed,

And the God of my salvation is exalted

⁴⁷– The God who gives me vengeance,

And who subdues peoples under me,

⁴⁸Who delivers me from my enemies.

You also raise me up above those who rise up against me;

You rescue me from the man of violence.

⁵⁰He magnifies acts of salvation of his king,

Also showing kindness to his anointed

– To David and to his seed

Age-abidingly.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 18: v.2 ↔ Hebrews 2:13 ● v.31 ↔ Mark 12:32 ● v.49 ↔ Romans 15:9.