Psalms 18:42

42 (17-43) And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.

Psalms 18:42 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 18:42

Then did I beat them small, as the dust before the wind
They being given up by God, and he not answering to their cries; the phrase denotes the utter ruin and destruction of them, and represents their case as desperate and irrecoverable; being, as it were, pounded to dust, and that driven away with the wind: just as the destruction of the four monarchies is signified by the iron, clay, brass, silver, and gold, being broken to pieces, and made like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and carried away with the wind, so that no place is found for them any more, ( Daniel 2:35 ) ;

I did cast them out as the dirt of the streets;
expressing indignation and contempt: in ( 2 Samuel 22:43 ) ; it is, "I did stamp them as the mire of the street, [and] did, spread them abroad"; which also denotes the low and miserable condition to which they were reduced, and the entire conquest made of them, and triumph over them; see ( Isaiah 10:6 ) ( Micah 7:10 ) ; compare with this ( 2 Samuel 12:31 ) .

Psalms 18:42 In-Context

40 (17-41) And thou hast made my enemies turn their back upon me, and hast destroyed them that hated me.
41 (17-42) They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord: but he heard them not.
42 (17-43) And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.
43 (17-44) Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people; thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles.
44 (17-45) A people which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.
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