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Psalm 18:34-44

Listen to Psalm 18:34-44
34 He 1trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can 2bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have also given me 3the shield of Your salvation, And Your 4right hand upholds me; And 5Your gentleness makes me great.
36 You 6enlarge my steps under me, And my 7feet have not slipped.
37 I 8pursued my enemies and overtook them, And I did not turn back 9until they were consumed.
38 I shattered them, so that they were 10not able to rise; They fell 11under my feet.
39 For You have 12girded me with strength for battle; You have 13subdued under me those who rose up against me.
40 You have also made my enemies 14turn their backs to me, And I 15destroyed those who hated me.
41 They cried for help, but there was 16none to save, Even to the LORD, but 17He did not answer them.
42 Then I beat them fine as the 18dust before * the wind; I emptied them out as the mire of the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the 19contentions of the people; You have placed me as 20head of the nations; A 21people whom I have not known serve me.
44 As soon as they hear *, they obey me; Foreigners * 22submit to me.

Images for Psalm 18:34-44

Psalm 18:34-44 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, [a Psalm] of David. This is the same with that in 2 Samuel 22:1, with some variations, omissions, and alterations:

the servant of the Lord; not only by creation, nor merely by regeneration, but by office, as king of Israel, being put into it by the Lord, and acting in it in submission and obedience to him; just as the apostles under the New Testament, on account of their office, so style themselves in their epistles:

who spake unto the Lord the words of this song; that is, who delivered and sung this song in so many express words, in public, before all the congregation of Israel, to the honour and glory of God:

in the day [that] the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul, Not that this psalm was composed and sung the selfsame day that David was delivered from Saul, and set upon the throne; for it seems to have been written in his old age, at the close of his days; for immediately after it, in the second book of Samuel, it follows, "now these be the last words of David," 2 Samuel 23:1: but the sense is, that whereas David had many enemies, and particularly Saul, who was his greatest enemy, the Lord delivered him from them all, and especially from him, from him first, and then from all the rest; which when he reflected upon in his last days, he sat down and wrote this psalm, and then sung it in public, having delivered it into the hands of the chief musician for that purpose. There are two passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; Psalm 18:2, in Hebrews 2:13, and Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9; and there are many things in it that very well agree with him; he is eminently the "servant" of the Lord as Mediator; he was encompassed with the snares and sorrows of death and hell, and with the floods of ungodly men, when in the garden and on the cross God was his helper and deliverer, as man; and he was victorious over all enemies, sin, Satan, the world, death and hell; as the subject of this psalm is all along represented: and to Christ it does most properly belong to be the head of the Heathen, whose voluntary subjects the Gentiles are said to be, Psalm 18:43; and which is expressed in much the same language as the like things are in Isaiah 55:4; which is a clear and undoubted prophecy of the Messiah; to which may be added, that the Lord's Anointed, the King Messiah, and who is also called David, is expressly mentioned in Psalm 18:50; and which is applied to the Messiah by the Jews {q} as Psalm 18:32 is paraphrased of him by the Targum on it;

and he said; the following words:

{q} Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. & Midrash Tillim in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3.
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Cross References 22

  • 1. Psalms 144:1
  • 2. Job 29:20
  • 3. Psalms 33:20
  • 4. Psalms 63:8; Psalms 119:117
  • 5. Psalms 138:6
  • 6. Psalms 18:33
  • 7. Psalms 66:9; Proverbs 4:12
  • 8. Psalms 44:5
  • 9. Psalms 37:20
  • 10. Psalms 36:12
  • 11. Psalms 47:3
  • 12. Psalms 18:32
  • 13. Psalms 18:47
  • 14. Psalms 21:12
  • 15. Psalms 94:23
  • 16. Psalms 50:22
  • 17. Job 27:9; Proverbs 1:28
  • 18. Psalms 83:13
  • 19. 2 Samuel 3:1; 2 Samuel 19:9; Psalms 35:1
  • 20. 2 Samuel 8:1-18; Psalms 89:27
  • 21. Isaiah 55:5
  • 22. Psalms 66:3

Footnotes 5

  • [a] Or "condescension"
  • [b] Lit "ankles"
  • [c] Lit "caused to bow down"
  • [d] Or "silenced"
  • [e] Lit "deceive me;" i.e. give feigned obedience
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org

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