Psalms 18:42

42 And I beat them as dust before wind, As mire of the streets I empty them out.

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 As to mine enemies -- Thou hast given to me the neck, As to those hating me -- I cut them off.
41 They cry, and there is no saviour, On Jehovah, and He doth not answer them.
42 And I beat them as dust before wind, As mire of the streets I empty them out.
43 Thou dost deliver me From the strivings of the people, Thou placest me for a head of nations, A people I have not known do serve me.
44 At the hearing of the ear they hearken to me, Sons of a stranger feign obedience to me,
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.