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Psalm 118

A Song of Victory

O give thanks to the L ord, for he is good;

his steadfast love endures forever!

Let Israel say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Let the house of Aaron say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Let those who fear the L ord say,

“His steadfast love endures forever.”

Out of my distress I called on the L ord;

the L ord answered me and set me in a broad place.

With the L ord on my side I do not fear.

What can mortals do to me?

The L ord is on my side to help me;

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the L ord

than to put confidence in mortals.

It is better to take refuge in the L ord

than to put confidence in princes.

All nations surrounded me;

in the name of the L ord I cut them off!

They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;

in the name of the L ord I cut them off!

They surrounded me like bees;

they blazed like a fire of thorns;

in the name of the L ord I cut them off!

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,

but the L ord helped me.

The L ord is my strength and my might;

he has become my salvation.

There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:

“The right hand of the L ord does valiantly;

the right hand of the L ord is exalted;

the right hand of the L ord does valiantly.”

I shall not die, but I shall live,

and recount the deeds of the L ord.

The L ord has punished me severely,

but he did not give me over to death.

Open to me the gates of righteousness,

that I may enter through them

and give thanks to the L ord.

This is the gate of the L ord;

the righteous shall enter through it.

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the L ord’s doing;

it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the L ord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Save us, we beseech you, O L ord!

O L ord, we beseech you, give us success!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the L ord.

We bless you from the house of the L ord.

The L ord is God,

and he has given us light.

Bind the festal procession with branches,

up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

you are my God, I will extol you.

O give thanks to the L ord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

10. All nations compassed me In these verses he relates the wonderful deliverance which he had received, that all might know that it was not of human but divine origin. Once and again he declares, that he was compassed not by a few persons, but by a vast multitude. The people, being all inflamed with anger and fury against him, compassed him so that there were no means for his escape, and he could procure help from no quarter but from heaven. Some consider his complaint, that all nations were adverse to him, as referring to the neighboring nations, by whom we know David was surrounded with danger. His meaning, in my opinion, is, that the whole world was adverse to him; because he places God’s help alone in opposition to the deadly and furious hatred both of his own countrymen and of the neighboring nations towards him, so that there was not a spot upon the earth where he could be safe. There was, it is true, no army, collected from several nations, besieging him; still he had no peaceable retreat except among the haunts of wild beasts, from which also he was driven by terror. And in proportion to the number of persons he encountered were the snares laid to entrap him. It is, therefore, not wonderful that he said he was compassed by all nations. Besides, this elliptical mode of speaking is more forcible than if he had merely said that he trusted in God, by reason of which he had become victorious. By publicly mentioning the name of God alone, he maintains that no other means of deliverance were within his reach, and that but for his interposition he must have perished. It appears to me preferable to translate the particle כי, ki, affirmatively. ³⁹¹³⁹¹ “I take כי to be an affirmative adverb, surely, and not a conjunction.” — Lowth. “Besieged as I am on all sides by the world, yet if the power of God help me, that will be more than adequate for the extermination of all mine enemies.” Their obstinate and implacable hatred is pointed out by him in the repetition of the phrase compassed about, and their outrageous fury is set forth in comparing them to bees, which, though not possessed of much strength, are very fierce, and when in their insensate fury they attack a person, they occasion no little fear. He shortly adds, they are quenched as a fire of thorns, which at first makes a great crackling, and throws out a greater flame than a fire of wood, but soon passes away. The amount is, that David’s enemies had furiously assailed him, but that their fury soon subsided. Hence he again repeats, that sustained by the power of God, whatever opposition might rise against him would soon pass away.

³⁹¹ “I take כי to be an affirmative adverb, surely, and not a conjunction.” — Lowth.