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Psalm 18

Royal Thanksgiving for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David the servant of the L ord, who addressed the words of this song to the L ord on the day when the L ord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love you, O L ord, my strength.

The L ord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,

my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the L ord, who is worthy to be praised,

so I shall be saved from my enemies.

The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of perdition assailed me;

the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the L ord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

He bowed the heavens, and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

He rode on a cherub, and flew;

he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his covering around him,

his canopy thick clouds dark with water.

Out of the brightness before him

there broke through his clouds

hailstones and coals of fire.

The L ord also thundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his voice.

And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.

Then the channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, O L ord,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

He reached down from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of mighty waters.

He delivered me from my strong enemy,

and from those who hated me;

for they were too mighty for me.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity;

but the L ord was my support.

He brought me out into a broad place;

he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

The L ord rewarded me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.

For I have kept the ways of the L ord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all his ordinances were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

I was blameless before him,

and I kept myself from guilt.

Therefore the L ord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

With the loyal you show yourself loyal;

with the blameless you show yourself blameless;

with the pure you show yourself pure;

and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.

For you deliver a humble people,

but the haughty eyes you bring down.

It is you who light my lamp;

the L ord, my God, lights up my darkness.

By you I can crush a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

This God—his way is perfect;

the promise of the L ord proves true;

he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

For who is God except the L ord?

And who is a rock besides our God?—

the God who girded me with strength,

and made my way safe.

He made my feet like the feet of a deer,

and set me secure on the heights.

He trains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand has supported me;

your help has made me great.

You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

I pursued my enemies and overtook them;

and did not turn back until they were consumed.

I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;

they fell under my feet.

For you girded me with strength for the battle;

you made my assailants sink under me.

You made my enemies turn their backs to me,

and those who hated me I destroyed.

They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;

they cried to the L ord, but he did not answer them.

I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;

I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

You delivered me from strife with the peoples;

you made me head of the nations;

people whom I had not known served me.

As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;

foreigners came cringing to me.

Foreigners lost heart,

and came trembling out of their strongholds.

The L ord lives! Blessed be my rock,

and exalted be the God of my salvation,

the God who gave me vengeance

and subdued peoples under me;

who delivered me from my enemies;

indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;

you delivered me from the violent.

For this I will extol you, O L ord, among the nations,

and sing praises to your name.

Great triumphs he gives to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his anointed,

to David and his descendants 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.

3. I will call upon the praised Jehovah. Calling upon God, as has been observed elsewhere, frequently comprehends the whole of his service; but as the effect or fruit of prayer is particularly mentioned in what follows, this phrase in the passage before us, I have no doubt, signifies to have recourse to God for protection, and to ask by prayer deliverance from him. David having said in the second verse, that he trusted in God, now subjoins this as an evidence of his trust; for every one who confides in God will earnestly beseech his aid in the time of need. He therefore declares, that he will be saved, and prove victorious over all his enemies, because he will have recourse to God for help. He calls God the praised Jehovah, not only to intimate that he is worthy of being praised, as almost all interpreters explain it, but also to point out, that, when he came to the throne of grace, his prayers would be mingled and interwoven with praises. ³⁹³³⁹³ The word in the Hebrew text מהלל, mehullal, literally signifies praise. The ancient versions view the word not as denoting that God is worthy to be praised, which is the meaning attached to it in our English version, but as referring to the Psalmist’s resolution to praise God. The Septuagint reads, Αινων επικαλεσομαι Κυριον Kytov, “Praising I will call upon the Lord.” The reading of the Vulgate is the same, “Laudans invocabo.” The Chaldee reads, “In a song or hymn I pour out prayers unto the Lord:” and the Arabic. “I will praise the Lord, and call upon him.” This is precisely the sense in which Calvin understands the words, “I will call upon the praised Jehovah.” The scope of the passage seems to require that it be understood as meaning, that giving thanks to God for the benefits which he has received from him in times past, he will ask his assistance by renewed supplications. And certainly no man will ever invoke God in prayer freely and frankly unless he animate and encourage himself by the remembrance of the grace of God. Accordingly Paul, in Philippians 4:6, exhorts the faithful

“in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, to make their requests known unto God” (Philippians 4:6)

and to disburden their cares, as it were, into his bosom. All those whose prayers are not accompanied with the praises of God are chargeable with clamouring and complaining against him, when engaged in that solemn exercise.

4. The cords ³⁹⁴³⁹⁴ “Death is here personified under the semblance of a mighty conqueror, who binds his vanquished foes in strong fetters.” — Walford. of death had compassed me about. David now begins to recount the undoubted and illustrious proofs by which he had experienced that the hand of God is sufficiently strong and powerful to repel all the dangers and calamities with which he may be assailed. And we need not wonder that those things which might have been described more simply, and in an unadorned style, are clothed in poetical forms of expression, and set forth with all the elegancies and ornaments of language. The Holy Spirit, to contend against and make an impression upon the wicked and perverse dispositions of men, has here furnished David with eloquence full of majesty, energy, and wonderful power, to awaken mankind to consider the benefits of God. There is scarcely any assistance God bestows, however evident and palpable it may be to our senses, which our indifference or proud disdain does not obscure. David, therefore, the more effectually to move and penetrate our minds, says that the deliverance and succor which God had granted him had been conspicuous in the whole frame-work of the world. This his intention it is needful for us to take into view, lest we should think that he exceeds due bounds in expressing himself in a style so remarkable for sublimity. The sum is, that, when in his distresses he had been reduced to extremity, he had betaken himself to God for help, and had been wonderfully preserved.

³⁹³ The word in the Hebrew text מהלל, mehullal, literally signifies praise. The ancient versions view the word not as denoting that God is worthy to be praised, which is the meaning attached to it in our English version, but as referring to the Psalmist’s resolution to praise God. The Septuagint reads, Αινων επικαλεσομαι Κυριον Kytov, “Praising I will call upon the Lord.” The reading of the Vulgate is the same, “Laudans invocabo.” The Chaldee reads, “In a song or hymn I pour out prayers unto the Lord:” and the Arabic. “I will praise the Lord, and call upon him.” This is precisely the sense in which Calvin understands the words, “I will call upon the praised Jehovah.”

³⁹⁴ “Death is here personified under the semblance of a mighty conqueror, who binds his vanquished foes in strong fetters.” — Walford.