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Psalm 18 – A King’s Song of Gratitude
For the leader. Of David, the servant of the Lord, who recited the words of this song to the Lord after the Lord had saved him from the power of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, deliverer,
my God, my rock, where I take refuge,
my shield, my defender, my tower.
3 Worthy of praise is the Lord whom I call on,
he rescues me from all my foes.
4 The waves of death broke about me,
fearful floods of chaos.
5 Sheol threw cords around me,
snares of death came to meet me.
6 In distress I cried to the Lord,
and shouted for help to my God;
in his temple he heard my voice,
into his ears came my cry.
7 Then the earth shook and quaked,
mountains trembled to their foundations,
and quaked because of his wrath.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
devouring fire from his mouth,
coals were kindled by it.
9 Then he bent the sky and came down,
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew,
darting on wings of wind,
11 with his screen of darkness about him,
in thick dark clouds of water.
12 At the radiance before him there passed
hailstones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord thundered from heaven,
the Most High uttered his voice.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them,
flashed lightnings, and routed them.
15 The channels of the sea were revealed,
the world was laid bare to its base,
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He stretched from on high, he seized me,
drew me up from the mighty waters,
17 and saved me from those who hated me –
fierce foes, too mighty for me.
18 In my day of distress they assailed me,
but the Lord proved my support.
19 To a spacious place he brought me,
and, for love of me, he saved me.
20 The Lord repays my innocence,
he rewards my cleanness of hands.
21 For I kept the ways of the Lord,
nor have wickedly strayed from my God.
22 His commandments were all before me,
his statutes I put not away.
23 And I was blameless before him,
guarding myself from sin.
24 So the Lord repaid my innocence,
my cleanness of hands in his sight.
25 With the loyal you are loyal,
and with the blameless blameless.
26 With the pure you show yourself pure,
but shrewd with the devious.
27 For the lowly people you save,
but haughty eyes you abase.
28 You are my lamp, Lord,
my God who enlightens my darkness.
29 With you I can storm a rampart,
with my God I can leap a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord is pure.
He is shield to all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God but the Lord?
And who is a rock but our God?
32 The God who arms me with strength,
who cleared and smoothed my way.
33 He made my feet like hinds’ feet,
and set me up on the heights.
34 He taught my hands how to fight,
and my arms how to bend a bronze bow.
35 The shield of your help you gave me,
your right hand supports me,
you stoop down to make me great.
36 In your strength I took giant strides,
and my feet never slipped.
37 So I chased the foe till I caught them,
and turned not, till I made an end of them.
38 I smashed them, they could not rise,
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You did arm me with strength for war,
you did bow my assailants beneath me.
40 You made my foes turn their back to me,
and those who did hate me I finished.
41 They cried for help, but none saved them;
to the Lord, but he answered them not.
42 I beat them like dust of the market-place,
stamped them like mud of the streets.
43 From the strife of the peoples you saved me,
you made me head of the nations,
peoples I knew not did serve me.
44 On the instant they hear, they obey me,
foreigners come to me cringing.
45 Foreigners lose courage,
and come out of their strongholds trembling.
46 The Lord is alive! Blest be my rock!
Exalted be God, my protector!
47 The God who gave me revenge,
and brought down nations beneath me,
48 who saved me from angry foes,
and set me above my assailants,
safe from the violent.
49 For this I will praise you among the nations,
making music, O Lord, to your name:
50 for great triumphs he grants to his king,
and faithful love he shows his anointed,
to David and his seed evermore.