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PSALM XVIII.

REVISED FROM 2 SAMUEL XXII, ON THE OCCASION OF THE TERMINATION OF THE WARS OF DAVID.

David praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous blessings.

T To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song, in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he said:

1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength!

2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

My God, my 'strength, in whom I will trust;

My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

4 The sorrows of death compassed me.

And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5 The 'sorrows of hell compassed me about: The snares of death prevented me.

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried unto my God:

7

He heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry came before him, even into his ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations also of the hills moved

4

And were shaken, because he was wroth. 8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured:

Coals were kindled by it.

1 Heb. rock,

a Heb. 2. 18.

b Psa. 116. 3.

2 Heb. Belial

Or, cords.

c Acts 4 81.

• Heb. by his

9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down ;
And darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly:
Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place;

His pavilion round about him were dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed,

Hailstones and coals of fire.

13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, And the Highest gave his voice;

Hailstones and coals of fire,

14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; And he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of water were seen,

16

And the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke,

O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

He sent from above,

He took me, he drew me out of 'many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,

And from them which hated me;

For they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity; But the LORD was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place;

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteous

ness;

According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD,

And have not wickedly departed from my God.

Or, great waters.

22 For all his judgments were before me,

And I did not put away his statutes from me. 23 I was also upright before him,

And I kept myself from mine iniquity.

24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me According to my righteousness,

25

According to the cleanness of my hands 'in his eyesight.

With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; 26 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure;

And with the froward thou wilt 'show thyself froward;

27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people;

But wilt bring down high looks.

28 For thou wilt light my 'candle:

The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. 29 For by thee I have "run through a troop; And by my God have I leaped over a wall. 30 As for God, his way is perfect:

The word of the LORD is "tried:

He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

31 For who is God, save the LORD?

Or who is a rock, save our God?

32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, And maketh my way perfect.

33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet,

And setteth me upon my high places.

34 He teaches my hands to war,

So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; And thy right hand hath holden me up, And "thy gentleness hath made me great.

• Heb. with.

7 Heb. before his eyes.

Or, wrestle.

• Or, lamp.

10 Or, broken,

11 Or, refined.

12 Or, with thy meek ness thou hast mul tiplied me.

36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, That "my feet did not slip.

37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: Neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: They are fallen under my feet.

39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: Thou hast "subdued under me those that rose up against me.

40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; That I might destroy them that hate me.

41 They cried-but there was none to save them:

Even unto the LORD-but he answered them not. 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind:

I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people;

And thou hast made me the head of the heathen: A people whom I have not known shall serve me. 44 " As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: "The strangers shall "submit themselves unto me. 45 The strangers shall fade away,

46

And be afraid out of their close places.

The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; And let the God of my salvation be exalted! 47 It is God that "avengeth me,

And "subdueth the people under me.

48 He delivereth me from mine enemies:

Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me:

Thou hast delivered me from the 20 violent man.

13 Heb. mine ankles.
14 Heb. caused to boro.

15 Heb. at the hearing
of the car.

18 Heb. the sons of the
stranger.

17 Or, yield feigned obe-
dience. Heb. lie.

18 Heb. giveth avengements for me.

19 Or, destroyeth.

20 Heb. man of violence.

49 Therefore will I "give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen,

And sing praises unto thy name.

50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king;
And showeth mercy to his anointed,
To David, and to his seed for evermore.

21 Or, confess.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS XXX AND CXXXI.

PSALMS OF DAVID.

About two years had elapsed since the war with the Philistines, noticed in the preceding Introduction. David was now nearly seventy years old. His kingdom enjoyed tranquillity, and in peace he might have terminated his long and prosperous reign, had not his heart, in an evil hour, yielded to the temptation of kingly pride and ambition. It does not fully appear what David's design was in ordering a new census of the population of his kingdom. As the business, however, was undertaken by Joab, the general of the army, and not consigned to the priests, as was the custom; and as those only were counted who were subject to military service, being twenty years old and upward, it appears quite evident that a military census was intended. It is probable, therefore, that David contemplated some foreign expedition, or perhaps some revision and enlargement of the army, contrary to the genius of the theocracy. It is sufficiently manifest that he was prompted by vanity and self-confidence at being the monarch of so great a people; and, from whatever particular cause undertaken, it was understood that the whole procedure was offensive to God. God was the only rightful and real sovereign of the nation. By him alone David had risen to power, and the people had prospered. But now a movement is made adverse to these sentiments. Joab himself remonstrated against the measure, foreseeing that, according to the principles of the theocracy, it boded ill to the nation. But

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