Psalms 18

1 I love you, Lord. You give me strength.

2 The LORD is my rock and my fort. He is the One who saves me. My God is my rock. I go to him for safety. He is like a shield to me. He's the power that saves me. He's my place of safety.

3 I call out to the Lord. He is worthy of praise. He saves me from my enemies.

4 The ropes of death were almost wrapped around me. A destroying flood swept over me.

5 The ropes of the grave were tight around me. Death set its trap in front of me.

6 When I was in trouble, I called out to the Lord. I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice. My cry for help reached his ears.

7 The earth trembled and shook. The base of the mountains rocked back and forth. It trembled because the LORD was angry.

8 Smoke came out of his nose. Flames of fire came out of his mouth. Burning coals blazed out of it.

9 He opened the heavens and came down. Dark clouds were under his feet.

10 He got on the cherubim and flew. The wings of the wind lifted him up.

11 He covered himself with darkness. The dark rain clouds of the sky were like a tent around him.

12 Clouds came out of the brightness that was all around him. They came with hailstones and flashes of lightning.

13 The LORD thundered from heaven. The voice of the Most High God was heard.

14 He shot his arrows and scattered our enemies. He sent great flashes of lightning and chased the enemies away.

15 The bottom of the sea could be seen. The foundations of the earth were uncovered. Lord, it happened when your anger blazed out. It came like a blast of breath from your nose.

16 He reached down from heaven. He took hold of me. He lifted me out of deep waters.

17 He saved me from my powerful enemies. He set me free from those who were too strong for me.

18 They stood up to me when I was in trouble. But the LORD helped me.

19 He brought me out into a wide and safe place. He saved me because he was pleased with me.

20 The LORD has been good to me because I do what is right. He has rewarded me because I lead a pure life.

21 I have lived the way the LORD wanted me to. I haven't done evil by turning away from my God.

22 I keep all of his laws in mind. I haven't turned away from his commands.

23 He knows that I am without blame. He knows I've kept myself from sinning.

24 The LORD has rewarded me for doing what is right. He has rewarded me because I haven't done anything wrong.

25 LORD, to those who are faithful you show that you are faithful. To those who are without blame you show that you are without blame.

26 To those who are pure you show that you are pure. But to those whose paths are crooked you show that you are clever.

27 You save those who aren't proud. But you bring down those whose eyes are proud.

28 Lord, you keep the lamp of my life burning brightly. You are my God. You bring light into my darkness.

29 With your help I can attack a troop of soldiers. With the help of my God I can climb over a wall.

30 God's way is perfect. The word of the LORD doesn't have any flaws. He is like a shield to all who go to him for safety.

31 Who is God except the Lord? Who is the Rock except our God?

32 God gives me strength for the battle. He makes my way perfect.

33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He helps me stand on the highest places.

34 He trains my hands to fight every battle. My arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 Lord, you are like a shield that keeps me safe. You help me win the battle. Your strong right hand keeps me going. You bend down to make me great.

36 You give me a wide path to walk on so that I don't twist my ankles.

37 I chased my enemies and caught them. I didn't turn back until they were destroyed.

38 I crushed them so that they couldn't get up. They fell under my feet.

39 Lord, you gave me strength to fight the battle. You made my enemies bow down at my feet.

40 You made them turn their backs and run away. So I destroyed my enemies.

41 They cried out for help. But there was no one to save them. They called out to you. But you didn't answer them.

42 I beat them as fine as dust blown by the wind. I poured them out like mud in the streets.

43 You saved me when my own people attacked me. You made me the ruler over nations. People I didn't know serve me now.

44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me. People from other lands bow down to me in fear.

45 All of them give up hope. They come trembling out of their hiding places.

46 The LORD lives! Give praise to my Rock! Give honor to God my Savior!

47 He is the God who pays my enemies back. He brings the nations under my control.

48 He saves me from my enemies. You have honored me more than them. You have saved me from men who want to hurt me.

49 Lord, I will praise you among the nations. I will sing praises to you.

50 The LORD helps his king win great battles. He shows his faithful love to his anointed king. He shows it to me and my family forever.

Psalms 18 Commentary

Chapter 18

David rejoices in the deliverances God wrought for him. (1-19) He takes the comfort of his integrity, which God had cleared up. (20-28) He gives to God the glory of all his mighty deeds. (29-50)

Verses 1-19 The first words, "I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," are the scope and contents of the psalm. Those that truly love God, may triumph in him as their Rock and Refuge, and may with confidence call upon him. It is good for us to observe all the circumstances of a mercy which magnify the power of God and his goodness to us in it. David was a praying man, and God was found a prayer-hearing God. If we pray as he did, we shall speed as he did. God's manifestation of his presence is very fully described, ver. ( 7-15 ) . Little appeared of man, but much of God, in these deliverances. It is not possible to apply to the history of the son of Jesse those awful, majestic, and stupendous words which are used through this description of the Divine manifestation. Every part of so solemn a scene of terrors tells us, a greater than David is here. God will not only deliver his people out of their troubles in due time, but he will bear them up under their troubles in the mean time. Can we meditate on ver. 18, without directing one thought to Gethsemane and Calvary? Can we forget that it was in the hour of Christ's deepest calamity, when Judas betrayed, when his friends forsook, when the multitude derided him, and the smiles of his Father's love were withheld, that the powers of darkness prevented him? The sorrows of death surrounded him, in his distress he prayed, ( Hebrews 5:7 ) . God made the earth to shake and tremble, and the rocks to cleave, and brought him out, in his resurrection, because he delighted in him and in his undertaking.

Verses 20-28 Those that forsake the ways of the Lord, depart from their God. But though conscious to ourselves of many a false step, let there not be a wicked departure from our God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands. Constant care to keep from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, proves that we are upright before God. Those who show mercy to others, even they need mercy. Those who are faithful to God, shall find him all that to them which he has promised to be. The words of the Lord are pure words, very sure to be depended on, and very sweet to be delighted in. Those who resist God, and walk contrary to him, shall find that he will walk contrary to them, ( Leviticus 26:21-24 ) . The gracious recompence of which David spoke, may generally be expected by those who act from right motives. Hence he speaks comfort to the humble, and terror to the proud; "Thou wilt bring down high looks." And he speaks encouragement to himself; "Thou wilt light my candle:" thou wilt revive and comfort my sorrowful spirit; thou wilt guide my way, that I may avoid the snares laid for me. Thou wilt light my candle to work by, and give me an opportunity of serving thee. Let those that walk in darkness, and labour under discouragements, take courage; God himself will be a Light to them.

Verses 29-50 When we praise for one mercy, we must observe the many more, with which we have been compassed all our days. Many things had contributed to David's advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise. In verse Verse 32 , and the following verses, are the gifts of God to the spiritual warrior, whereby he is prepared for the contest, after the example of his victorious Leader. Learn that we must seek release being made through Christ, shall be rejected. In David the type, we behold out of trouble through Christ. The prayer put up, without reconciliation Jesus our Redeemer, conflicting with enemies, compassed with sorrows and with floods of ungodly men, enduring not only the pains of death, but the wrath of God for us; yet calling upon the Father with strong cries and tears; rescued from the grave; proceeding to reconcile, or to put under his feet all other enemies, till death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. We should love the Lord, our Strength, and our Salvation; we should call on him in every trouble, and praise him for every deliverance; we should aim to walk with him in all righteousness and true holiness, keeping from sin. If we belong to him, he conquers and reigns for us, and we shall conquer and reign through him, and partake of the mercy of our anointed King, which is promised to all his seed for evermore. Amen.

Chapter Summary

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.