Psalms 144:4-14

4 We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.

5 O Lord, tear the sky open and come down; touch the mountains, and they will pour out smoke.

6 Send flashes of lightning and scatter your enemies; shoot your arrows and send them running.

7 Reach down from above, pull me out of the deep water, and rescue me; save me from the power of foreigners,

8 who never tell the truth and lie even under oath.

9 I will sing you a new song, O God; I will play the harp and sing to you.

10 You give victory to kings and rescue your servant David.

11 Save me from my cruel enemies; rescue me from the power of foreigners, who never tell the truth and lie even under oath.

12 May our sons in their youth be like plants that grow up strong. May our daughters be like stately columns which adorn the corners of a palace.

13 May our barns be filled with crops of every kind. May the sheep in our fields bear young by the tens of thousands.

14 May our cattle reproduce plentifully without miscarriage or loss. May there be no cries of distress in our streets.

Psalms 144:4-14 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.