Psalms 18:33-43

33 Making my feet like hinds, And on my high places causeth me to stand.
34 Teaching my hands for battle, And a bow of brass was brought down by my arms.
35 And Thou givest to me the shield of Thy salvation, And Thy right hand doth support me, And Thy lowliness maketh me great.
36 Thou enlargest my step under me, And mine ankles have not slidden.
37 I pursue mine enemies, and overtake them, And turn back not till they are consumed.
38 I smite them, and they are not able to rise, They fall under my feet,
39 And Thou girdest me [with] strength for battle, Causest my withstanders to bow under me.
40 As to mine enemies -- Thou hast given to me the neck, As to those hating me -- I cut them off.
41 They cry, and there is no saviour, On Jehovah, and He doth not answer them.
42 And I beat them as dust before wind, As mire of the streets I empty them out.
43 Thou dost deliver me From the strivings of the people, Thou placest me for a head of nations, A people I have not known do serve me.

Images for Psalms 18:33-43

Psalms 18:33-43 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.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.