Psalms 144:1-12

1 <> Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, Who teaches my hands to war, And my fingers to battle:

2 My lovingkindness, my fortress, My high tower, my deliverer, My shield, and he in whom I take refuge; Who subdues my people under me.

3 Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?

4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

5 Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.

7 Stretch out your hand from above, Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hands of foreigners;

8 Whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.

10 You are he who gives salvation to kings, Who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.

11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, Whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, Our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Psalms 144:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 144

\\<>\\. This psalm was written by David; not on account of the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, by a spirit of prophecy, as Theodoret; but on his own account, after he was come to the throne, and was king over all Israel; and was delivered from the was between him and Israel, and from the war of the Philistines, as Kimchi observes, having gained two victories over them: or it was written between the two victories, and before he had conquered all his enemies; since he prays to be delivered from the hand of strange children, Ps 144:7,11. R. Obadiah thinks it was written on the account of his deliverance from Absalom and Sheba; but the former is best. Some copies of the Septuagint, and also the Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, have in their titles these words, ``against Goliath;'' and so Apollinarius; as if it was written on account of his combat with him, and victory over him; but this clause is not in the Hebrew Bibles; nor could Theodoret find it in the Septuagint in the Hexapla in his time. The Syriac inscription is still more foreign to the purpose, ``a psalm of David, when he slew Asaph the brother of Goliath.'' R. Saadiah Gaon interprets this psalm of the times of the Messiah; and there are several things in it which are applicable to him.