Psalms 144:8-15

8 whose mouths speak worthless words and whose right hands swear false oaths.

9 God, I will sing a new song to you; sing praises to you with a ten-stringed harp.

10 You give kings their victories; you save your servant David from the cruel sword.

11 Rescue me, save me from the power of strangers, whose mouths speak worthless words and whose right hands swear false oaths.

12 Our sons in their youth will be like full-grown saplings, our daughters will be like sculptured pillars fit for the corner of a palace.

13 Our barns are full with crops of every kind; the sheep in our fields number thousands, tens of thousands.

14 our oxen are well-fed, our city walls have no breach, our people are not taken captive, and there are no cries of protest in our cities' open places.

15 How happy the people who live in such conditions! How happy the people whose God is ADONAI!

Psalms 144:8-15 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.