Psalm 18:29-50

29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can ¹leap over ²a wall.

30 This God—his way is ³perfect; ^[a] the word of the Lord ⁴proves true; he is ⁵a shield for all those who ⁶take refuge in him.

31 For ⁷who is God, but the Lord? And who is ⁸a rock, except our God? —

32 the God who ⁹equipped me with strength and made my way ¹⁰blameless.

33 He made my feet like the feet of a ¹¹deer and set me secure on ¹²the heights.

34 He ¹³trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand ¹⁴supported me, and your ¹⁵gentleness made me great.

36 You ¹⁶gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed.

38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet.

39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me.

40 You made my enemies ¹⁷turn their backs to me, ^[b] and those who hated me I destroyed.

41 ¹⁸They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

42 I beat them fine as ¹⁹dust before the wind; I cast them out like ²⁰the mire of the streets.

43 You delivered me from ²¹strife with the people; you made me ²²the head of the nations; ²³people whom I had not known served me.

44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me; ²⁴foreigners ²⁵came cringing to me.

45 ²⁶Foreigners lost heart and ²⁷came trembling out of their fortresses.

46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation—

47 the God who gave me vengeance and ²⁸subdued peoples under me,

48 who delivered me from my enemies; yes, you ²⁹exalted me above those who rose against me; you rescued me from ³⁰the man of violence.

49 ³¹For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and ³²sing to your name.

50 Great ³³salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his ³⁴anointed, to ³⁵David and his offspring forever.

Psalm 18:29-50 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.

Cross References

• 1. 18:29 [Isa. 35:6]
• 2. 18:29 See 2 Sam. 5:6-9
• 3. 18:30 Deut. 32:4; Dan. 4:37; Matt. 5:48; [Rev. 15:3]
• 4. 18:30 See Ps. 12:6
• 5. 18:30 ver. 2
• 6. 18:30 Ps. 17:7
• 7. 18:31 [Ps. 86:8]
• 8. 18:31 See ver. 2
• 9. 18:32 1 Sam. 2:4; Isa. 45:5
• 10. 18:32 Ps. 101:2, 6; 119:1; Job 22:3
• 11. 18:33 Hab. 3:19
• 12. 18:33 Deut. 32:13; Isa. 58:14
• 13. 18:34 Ps. 144:1
• 14. 18:35 Ps. 20:2
• 15. 18:35 [Isa. 63:9]
• 16. 18:36 Ps. 31:8; Prov. 4:12; [ver. 19]
• 17. 18:40 Ex. 23:27; [Ps. 21:12]
• 18. 18:41 See Job 27:9
• 19. 18:42 2 Kgs. 13:7
• 20. 18:42 Isa. 10:6; Mic. 7:10; Zech. 10:5
• 21. 18:43 [2 Sam. 3:1; 19:9, 43; 20:1]
• 22. 18:43 [Ps. 2:8]; See 2 Sam. 8:1-14
• 23. 18:43 Isa. 55:5; [Ps. 22:27]
• 24. 18:44 Ps. 144:7
• 25. 18:44 Ps. 66:3; 81:15; Deut. 33:29
• 26. 18:45 [See ver. 44 above]
• 27. 18:45 Mic. 7:17
• 28. 18:47 Ps. 47:3; 144:2; [Isa. 45:1]
• 29. 18:48 Ps. 59:1
• 30. 18:48 Ps. 140:1
• 31. 18:49 Cited Rom. 15:9
• 32. 18:49 Ps. 66:4
• 33. 18:50 Ps. 144:10
• 34. 18:50 See Ps. 2:2
• 35. 18:50 [Ps. 89:29; 2 Sam. 7:12, 13, 29]

Footnotes

• [a] 18:30 Or 'blameless'
• [b] 18:40 Or 'You gave me my enemies’ necks'