For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang 2 to the Lord the words of this song when 3 the Lord rescued him from the power 4 of all his enemies, including Saul. 5
18:1 He said: 6
“I love 7 you, Lord, my source of strength! 8
18:2 The Lord is my high ridge, 9 my stronghold, 10 my deliverer.
My God is my rocky summit where 11 I take shelter, 12
my shield, the horn that saves me, 13 and my refuge. 14
By David.
27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! 16
I fear no one! 17
The Lord protects my life!
I am afraid of no one! 18
28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; 19
he protects and delivers his chosen king. 20
59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! 21
For God is my refuge, 22 the God who loves me. 23
62:6 He alone is my protector 24 and deliverer.
He is my refuge; 25 I will not be upended. 26
62:7 God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter. 27
118:14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me; 28
he has become my deliverer.” 29
3:17 When 30 the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
when the olive trees do not produce, 31
and the fields yield no crops; 32
when the sheep disappear 33 from the pen,
and there are no cattle in the stalls,
3:18 I will rejoice because of 34 the Lord;
I will be happy because of the God who delivers me!
3:19 The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. 35
He gives me the agility of a deer; 36
he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. 37
(This prayer is for the song leader. It is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.) 38
1 sn Psalm 18. In this long song of thanks, the psalmist (a Davidic king, traditionally understood as David himself) affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. The psalmist’s experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the psalm appears in 2 Sam 22:1-51.
2 tn Heb “spoke.”
3 tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”
4 tn Heb “hand.”
5 tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”
6 tn A number of translations (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) assign the words “he said” to the superscription, in which case the entire psalm is in first person. Other translations (e.g., NAB) include the introductory “he said” at the beginning of v. 1.
7 tn The verb רָחַם (rakham) elsewhere appears in the Piel (or Pual) verbal stem with the basic meaning, “have compassion.” The verb occurs only here in the basic (Qal) stem. The basic stem of the verbal root also occurs in Aramaic with the meaning “love” (see DNWSI 2:1068-69; Jastrow 1467 s.v. רָחַם; G. Schmuttermayr, “rhm: eine lexikalische Studie,” Bib 51 [1970]: 515-21). Since this introductory statement does not appear in the parallel version in 2 Sam 22:1-51, it is possible that it is a later addition to the psalm, made when the poem was revised for use in worship.
8 tn Heb “my strength.” “Strength” is metonymic here, referring to the Lord as the one who bestows strength to the psalmist; thus the translation “my source of strength.”
9 sn My high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
10 sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.
11 tn Or “in whom.”
12 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
13 tn Heb “the horn of my salvation”; or “my saving horn.”
14 tn Or “my elevated place.” The parallel version of this psalm in 2 Sam 22:3 adds at this point, “my refuge, my savior, [you who] save me from violence.”
15 sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.
16 tn Heb “the
17 tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
18 tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
19 tn Heb “the
20 tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.
21 tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”
22 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
23 tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”
24 tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”
25 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
26 sn The wording is identical to that of v. 2, except that רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) does not appear in v. 6.
27 tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”
28 tn Heb “my strength and protection [is] the
29 tn Or “salvation.”
30 tn Or “though.”
31 tn Heb “the produce of the olive disappoints.”
32 tn Heb “food.”
33 tn Or “are cut off.”
34 tn Or “in.”
35 tn Or perhaps, “is my wall,” that is, “my protector.”
36 tn Heb “he makes my feet like those of deer.”
37 tn Heb “he makes me walk on my high places.”
38 tn Heb “For the leader, on my stringed instruments.”
39 tn The Greek word translated “all things” is in emphatic position at the beginning of the Greek sentence.
40 tc Although some excellent witnesses lack explicit reference to the one strengthening Paul (so א* A B D* I 33 1739 lat co Cl), the majority of witnesses (א2 D2 [F G] Ψ 075 1881 Ï sy) add Χριστῷ (Cristw) here (thus, “through Christ who strengthens me”). But this kind of reading is patently secondary, and is a predictable variant. Further, the shorter reading is much harder, for it leaves the agent unspecified.