Psalms 18:39-42

18:39 You give me strength ¹  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ² 

18:40 You make my enemies retreat; ³ 

I destroy those who hate me. ⁴ 

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; ⁵ 

they cry out to the Lord, ⁶  but he does not answer them.

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; ⁷ 

I beat them underfoot ⁸  like clay ⁹  in the streets.

[18:39]  ¹ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ² tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[18:40]  ³ tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.

[18:40]  ⁴ sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the Lord who delivered the psalmist from those who hated him.

[18:41]  ⁵ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[18:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the Lord.” The words “they cry out” are supplied in the translation because they are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[18:42]  ⁷ tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”

[18:42]  ⁸ tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.

[18:42]  ⁹ tn Or “mud.”