Psalms 144:1-9

1 Blessed be Jehovah my rock, Who teacheth my hands to war, [And] my fingers to fight:

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

3 Jehovah, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?

4 Man is like to vanity: His days are as a shadow that passeth away.

5 Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down: Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them; Send out thine arrows, and discomfit them.

7 Stretch forth thy hand from above; Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens;

8 Whose mouth speaketh deceit, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: Upon a psaltery of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

Psalms 144:1-9 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.