Psalm 18

[For the choirmaster Of David, the servant of Yahweh, who addressed the words of this song to Yahweh when Yahweh had delivered him from all his enemies and from the clutches of Saul. He said:] I love you, Yahweh, my strength (my Saviour, you have saved me from violence).

Yahweh is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer is my God. I take refuge in him, my rock, my shield, my saving strength, my stronghold, my place of refuge.

I call to Yahweh who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my foes.

With Death’s breakers closing in on me, Belial’s torrents ready to swallow me,

Sheol’s snares every side of me, Death’s traps lying ahead of me,

I called to Yahweh in my anguish, I cried for help to my God; from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears.

Then the earth quaked and rocked, the mountains’ foundations shuddered, they quaked at his blazing anger.

Smoke rose from his nostrils, from his mouth devouring fire (coals were kindled at it).

He parted the heavens and came down, a storm-cloud underneath his feet;

riding one of the winged creatures, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

His covering he made the darkness, his pavilion dark waters and dense cloud.

A brightness lit up before him, hail and blazing fire.

Yahweh thundered from the heavens, the Most High made his voice heard.

He shot his arrows and scattered them, he hurled his lightning and routed them.

The very springs of ocean were exposed, the world’s foundations were laid bare, at your roaring, Yahweh, at the blast of breath from your nostrils!

He reached down from on high, snatched me up, pulled me from the watery depths,

rescued me from my mighty foe, from my enemies who were stronger than I.

They assailed me on my day of disaster but Yahweh was there to support me;

he freed me, set me at large, he rescued me because he loves me.

Yahweh rewards me for my uprightness, as my hands are pure, so he repays me,

since I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and not fallen away from my God.

His judgements are all before me, his statutes I have not put away from me.

I am blameless before him, I keep myself clear of evil.

So Yahweh repaid me for acting uprightly because he could see I was pure.

You are faithful to the faithful, blameless with the blameless,

sincere to the sincere, but cunning to the crafty,

you save a people that is humble and humiliate those with haughty looks.

Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp, my God lights up my darkness;

with you I storm the rampart, with my God I can scale any wall.

This God, his way is blameless; the word of Yahweh is refined in the furnace, for he alone is the shield of all who take refuge in him.

For who is God but Yahweh, who is a rock but our God?

This God who girds me with strength, who makes my way free from blame,

who makes me as swift as a deer and sets me firmly on the heights,

who trains my hands for battle, my arms to bend a bow of bronze.

You give me your invincible shield (your right hand upholds me) you never cease to listen to me,

you give me the strides of a giant, give me ankles that never weaken.

I pursue my enemies and overtake them, not turning back till they are annihilated;

I strike them down and they cannot rise, they fall, they are under my feet.

You have girded me with strength for the fight, bent down my assailants beneath me,

made my enemies retreat before me; and those who hate me I destroy.

They cry out, there is no one to save; to Yahweh, but no answer comes.

I crumble them like dust before the wind, trample them like the mud of the streets.

You free me from the quarrels of my people, you place me at the head of the nations, a people I did not know are now my servants;

foreigners come wooing my favour, no sooner do they hear than they obey me;

foreigners grow faint of heart, they come trembling out of their fastnesses.

Life to Yahweh! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation,

the God who gives me vengeance, and subjects whole peoples to me,

who rescues me from my raging enemies. You lift me high above those who attack me, you deliver me from the man of violence.

For this I will praise you, Yahweh, among the nations, and sing praise to your name.

saves his king time after time, displays his faithful love for his anointed, for David and his heirs for ever.