Psalm 18  Lexham English Bible

18 And he said:
“I love you, O Yahweh, my strength.”
² Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I have taken refuge,
my shield and the horn of my deliverance, my stronghold.
³ I called upon Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised,
and I was saved from my enemies.
⁴ The ropes of death encircled me,
and streams of ruin overwhelmed me.
⁵ The ropes of Sheol surrounded me;
the snares of death confronted me.
⁶ In my trouble I called on Yahweh,
and to my God I cried for help.
He heard my voice from his temple,
and my cry for help
came up before his presence into his ears.
⁷ Then the earth shook and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains trembled,
and they staggered because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went forth from his nose,
and fire from his mouth consumed.
Burning coals blazed from him.
⁹ So he bowed the heavens and came down
with a thick cloud under his feet.
¹⁰ And he mounted a cherub and flew,
and he swooped down on wings of wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his hiding place;
all about him his covering
was a darkness of waters, thick clouds.^[c]
12 From the brightness before him
his clouds passed over
with hail and coals of fire.
¹³ And Yahweh thundered from the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice
with hail and coals of fire.
¹⁴ And he shot his arrows and scattered them,^[d]
and many lightning bolts and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea became visible,
and the foundations of the world were uncovered
by your rebuke, O Yahweh,
by the blast^[e] of the wind of your nose.
¹⁶ He reached^[f] from on high; he seized me.
He drew me from many waters.
¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me
because they were stronger than I.
¹⁸ They confronted me on the day of disaster,
but Yahweh was my support.
¹⁹ So he brought me out to a spacious place.
He delivered me because he delighted in me.
²⁰ Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
he has repaid me.
²¹ Because I have kept the ways of Yahweh,
and have not acted wickedly against my God,
²² because all his ordinances are before me,
and his statutes I have not removed from me,
²³ and I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
²⁴ Therefore Yahweh has repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
²⁵ To the loyal you show yourself loyal.
To the blameless you show yourself blameless.
²⁶ To the pure you show yourself pure.
but to the wicked you show yourself shrewd.
²⁷ For you deliver humble people,
but haughty eyes you humiliate.
²⁸ For you light my lamp;
Yahweh, my God, lights up my darkness.
²⁹ For with you I can charge a troop,
and with my God I can scale a wall.
³⁰ This^[g] God—his way is blameless.
The word of Yahweh is flawless.^[h]
He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
³¹ For who is God apart from Yahweh,
and who is a rock except our God?
³² The God who girded me with strength,
and made safe^[i] my way,
³³ he made my feet like the deer’s,
and on my high places he makes me stand.
³⁴ He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You also gave me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your humility made me great.
³⁶ You enlarged my step under me,
and my ankles did not slip.
³⁷ I chased my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back until they were finished off.
³⁸ I struck them and they were not able to stand up;
they fell under my feet.
³⁹ And you girded me with strength for the battle;
those rising against me you made to kneel under me.
⁴⁰ And you made my enemies turn their backs,^[j]
then I destroyed those who hated me.
⁴¹ They cried out but there was no rescuer,
even to Yahweh, but he did not answer them.
⁴² And I ground them like dust in the wind,^[k]
I emptied them^[l] out like mud of the streets.
⁴³ You rescued me from strife with people;
you set me as head (over) nations.
People I did not know served me;
⁴⁴ as soon as they heard,^[m] they obeyed me.
The children of a foreign land feigned obedience before me.
⁴⁵ The children of a foreign land lost heart,^[n]
and they came trembling from their strongholds.
⁴⁶ Yahweh lives, and blessed be my rock,
and may the God of my salvation be exalted—
⁴⁷ the God who executed vengeance for me,
and subdued peoples under me,
⁴⁸ who delivered me from my enemies.
Indeed, you exalted me higher than those who rose against me.
You delivered me from the man of violence.
⁴⁹ Therefore I will give thanks to you among the nations, O Yahweh,
and I will sing the praise of your name:
⁵⁰ the one who makes great victories for his king,
and who shows loyal love for his anointed,
to David and to his descendants forever.