Psalms 144:5-15

5 Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down! Touch the mountains that they smoke!

6 Flash forth the lightning and scatter them, send out thy arrows and rout them!

7 Stretch forth thy hand from on high, rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of aliens,

8 whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9 I will sing a new song to thee, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to thee,

10 who givest victory to kings, who rescuest David thy servant.

11 Rescue me from the cruel sword, and deliver me from the hand of aliens, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;

13 may our garners be full, providing all manner of store; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;

14 may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mischance or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!

15 Happy the people to whom such blessings fall! Happy the people whose God is the LORD!

Psalms 144:5-15 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.