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18. Psalm 18

1 I love you, LORD, my strength.

    2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
   my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
   my shield Or sovereign and the horn Horn here symbolizes strength. of my salvation, my stronghold.

    3 I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
   and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
   the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
   the snares of death confronted me.

    6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
   I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
   my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
   and the foundations of the mountains shook;
   they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
   consuming fire came from his mouth,
   burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
   dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
   he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
   the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
   with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
   the voice of the Most High resounded. Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (see also 2 Samuel 22:14); most Hebrew manuscripts resounded, / amid hailstones and bolts of lightning
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,
   with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
   and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, LORD,
   at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

    16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
   he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
   from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
   but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
   he rescued me because he delighted in me.

    20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
   I am not guilty of turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
   I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
   and have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
   according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

    25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
   to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
   but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
   but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, LORD, keep my lamp burning;
   my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop Or can run through a barricade;
   with my God I can scale a wall.

    30 As for God, his way is perfect:
   The LORD’s word is flawless;
   he shields all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the LORD?
   And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
   and keeps my way secure.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
   he causes me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
   my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You make your saving help my shield,
   and your right hand sustains me;
   your help has made me great.
36 You provide a broad path for my feet,
   so that my ankles do not give way.

    37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
   I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
   they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
   you humbled my adversaries before me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
   and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
   to the LORD, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust;
   I trampled them Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac and Targum (see also 2 Samuel 22:43); Masoretic Text I poured them out like mud in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
   you have made me the head of nations.
People I did not know now serve me,
    44 foreigners cower before me;
   as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
45 They all lose heart;
   they come trembling from their strongholds.

    46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
   Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me,
   who subdues nations under me,
    48 who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
   from a violent man you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations;
   I will sing the praises of your name.

    50 He gives his king great victories;
   he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
   to David and to his descendants forever.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

46. Let Jehovah live. If it is thought proper to adopt this reading, which is in the optative mood expressing a wish that God might live, the manner of expression may seem somewhat strange; but it may be alleged in defense of it, that it is a metaphor borrowed from the custom of men, who not only use this manner of speaking when they wish well to any one, but likewise utter it with loud and applauding acclamation, when they intend to receive their princes with due honor. According to this view, it would be an expression in which praise is ascribed to God, and suitable for a triumphal song. 441441     “Ainsi ce seroit un mot tendant a lour Dieu et convenable a un cantique de triomphe.” — Fr. It may, however, be very properly considered as a simple affirmation, in which David declares that God lives, in other words, that he is endued with sovereign power. Farther, the life which David attributes to God is not to be restricted to the being or essence of God, but is rather to be understood of the evidence of it deducible from his works, which manifest to us that he liveth. Whenever he withdraws the working of his power from before our eyes, the sense and cognisance of the truth, “God liveth,” also evanishes from our minds. He is, therefore, said to live, inasmuch as he shows, by evident proofs of his power, that it is he who preserves and upholds the world. And as David had known, by experience, this life of God, he celebrates it with praises and thanksgiving. If we read the first clause in the present tense, The Lord liveth, the copula and, which follows, has the force of an inference; and, accordingly, the words should be resolved thus:— Jehovah liveth, and, therefore, blessed be my strength The epithet, My strength, and the other which occurs in verse 48th, My deliverer, confirm what I have already stated, that God does not simply live in himself, and in his secret place, but displays his vital energy in the government of the whole world. The Hebrew word, צורי, tsuri, which we have translated my strength, is here to be understood in a transitive sense for Him who bestows strength.
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