Psalm 18

¹I love you, O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord 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.

³I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

so I shall be saved from my enemies.

⁴The cords of death encompassed me;

the torrents of perdition assailed me;

⁵the cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

⁸Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

⁹He bowed the heavens, and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub, and flew;

he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his covering around him,

his canopy thick clouds dark with water.

¹²Out of the brightness before him

there broke through his clouds

hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord also thundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his voice.

¹⁴And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.

¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, O Lord,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He reached down from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of mighty waters.

¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,

and from those who hated me;

for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity;

but the Lord was my support.

¹⁹He brought me out into a broad place;

he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.

²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For all his ordinances were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

²³I was blameless before him,

and I kept myself from guilt.

²⁴Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵With the loyal you show yourself loyal;

with the blameless you show yourself blameless;

²⁶with the pure you show yourself pure;

and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.

²⁷For you deliver a humble people,

but the haughty eyes you bring down.

²⁸It is you who light my lamp;

the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.

²⁹By you I can crush a troop,

and by my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰This God—his way is perfect;

the promise of the Lord proves true;

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

³¹For who is God except the Lord?

And who is a rock besides our God?—

³²the God who girded me with strength,

and made my way safe.

³³He made my feet like the feet of a deer,

and set me secure on the heights.

³⁴He trains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand has supported me;

your help has made me great.

³⁶You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

³⁷I pursued my enemies and overtook them;

and did not turn back until they were consumed.

³⁸I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;

they fell under my feet.

³⁹For you girded me with strength for the battle;

you made my assailants sink under me.

⁴⁰You made my enemies turn their backs to me,

and those who hated me I destroyed.

⁴¹They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;

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

⁴²I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;

I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

⁴³You delivered me from strife with the peoples;

you made me head of the nations;

people whom I had not known served me.

⁴⁴As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;

foreigners came cringing to me.

⁴⁵Foreigners lost heart,

and came trembling out of their strongholds.

⁴⁶The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,

and exalted be the God of my salvation,

⁴⁷the God who gave me vengeance

and subdued peoples under me;

⁴⁸who delivered me from my enemies;

indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;

you delivered me from the violent.

⁴⁹For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,

and sing praises to your name.

⁵⁰Great triumphs he gives to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his anointed,

to David and his descendants forever.