Psalms 18:42

42 I beat them into a powder as fine as the dust blown by the wind. I threw them out as though they were dirt on the streets.

Psalms 18:42 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 18:42

Then did I beat them small, as the dust before the wind
They being given up by God, and he not answering to their cries; the phrase denotes the utter ruin and destruction of them, and represents their case as desperate and irrecoverable; being, as it were, pounded to dust, and that driven away with the wind: just as the destruction of the four monarchies is signified by the iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold, being broken to pieces, and made like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and carried away with the wind, so that no place is found for them any more, ( Daniel 2:35 ) ;

I did cast them out as the dirt of the streets;
expressing indignation and contempt: in ( 2 Samuel 22:43 ) ; it is, "I did stamp them as the mire of the street, [and] did, spread them abroad"; which also denotes the low and miserable condition to which they were reduced, and the entire conquest made of them, and triumph over them; see ( Isaiah 10:6 ) ( Micah 7:10 ) ; compare with this ( 2 Samuel 12:31 ) .

Psalms 18:42 In-Context

40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and I destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried out for help, but there was no one to save them. They cried out to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them into a powder as fine as the dust blown by the wind. I threw them out as though they were dirt on the streets.
43 You rescued me from my conflicts with the people. You made me the leader of nations. A people I did not know will serve me:
44 As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me. Foreigners will cringe in front of me.
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