Psalm 144:1-8

Prayer for Rescue and Prosperity.

1 Blessed be the LORD, ¹my rock, Who ²trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle;

2 My lovingkindness and ³my fortress, My ⁴stronghold and my deliverer, My ⁵shield and He in whom I take refuge, Who ⁶subdues my people under me.

3 O LORD, ⁷what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him?

4 ⁸Man is like a mere breath; His ⁹days are like a passing shadow.

5 ¹⁰Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and ¹¹come down; ¹²Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

6 Flash forth ¹³lightning and scatter them; Send out Your ¹⁴arrows and confuse them.

7 Stretch forth Your hand ¹⁵from on high; Rescue me and ¹⁶deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of ¹⁷aliens *

8 Whose mouths ¹⁸speak deceit, And whose ¹⁹right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Psalm 144:1-8 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.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 18:2
• 2. 2 Samuel 22:35; Psalms 18:34
• 3. Psalms 18:2; Psalms 91:2
• 4. Psalms 59:9
• 5. Psalms 3:3; Psalms 28:7; Psalms 84:9
• 6. Psalms 18:39
• 7. Job 7:17; Psalms 8:4; Hebrews 2:6
• 8. Psalms 39:11
• 9. Job 8:9; Job 14:2; Psalms 102:11; Psalms 109:23
• 10. Psalms 18:9
• 11. Isaiah 64:1
• 12. Psalms 104:32
• 13. Psalms 18:14
• 14. Psalms 7:13; Psalms 58:7; Habakkuk 3:11; Zechariah 9:14
• 15. Psalms 18:16
• 16. Psalms 69:1, 14
• 17. Psalms 18:44; Psalms 54:3
• 18. Psalms 12:2; Psalms 41:6
• 19. Genesis 14:22; Deuteronomy 32:40; Psalms 106:26; Isaiah 44:20

Footnotes

• [a] Another reading is "peoples"