Psalm 144:1-6

A Prayer for National Safety

Of David.

1 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, the one who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war--

2 my loyal love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, and [one] in whom I take refuge, the one who subdues peoples under me.

3 O Yahweh, what [is] humankind that you take knowledge of him, [or the] son of man that you take thought of him?

4 Humankind is like a breath, his days like a passing shadow.

5 O Yahweh, bow the heavens and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke.

6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them; dispatch your arrows and rout them.

Psalm 144:1-6 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.

Footnotes

• [a] The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
• [b] Reading with many Hebrew manuscripts and versions; MT reads "my people"