The Book of Psalms

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 18 -

The Lord is my rock

(2 Samuel 22:1-51)

Yahweh, I love you, the one who enables me to be strong.

Yahweh is like a huge rock; when I am on top of it, my enemies cannot reach me. He is like a strong fortress; I run into it to be safe. He protects me like a shield protects a soldier; he is the one whom I trust to keep me safe; he defends me by his great power!

I called out to Yahweh, who deserves for me to praise him, and he rescued me from my enemies.

All around me were dangerous situations in which I might die; it was as though there were huge waves that almost crashed on me and killed me.

It was as though the place where dead people are had ropes that were wrapped around me, or it was as though there was a trap that would seize and kill me.

But when I was very distressed, I called out to Yahweh, and far off in his temple he heard me. He listened to me when I cried out for help.

Then Yahweh became angry, and the earth quaked, and the mountains shook to their very foundations!

He was so angry that it was as though smoke poured out from his nostrils, as though burning coals came out of his mouth!

He opened the sky and came down with a black cloud under his feet.

He flew, riding on the back of an angel traveling fast, which the wind was blowing along.

Darkness was all around him like a blanket; dark clouds, full of water moisture, covered him.

Hailstones and flashes of lightning were around him; hail and burning coals fell down from the sky.

Then Yahweh shouted loudly from the sky, and to his enemies, it sounded like thunder. Yahweh, the Supreme God, rained hailstones on them and caused lightning to flash against them.

He shot his arrows at them and caused them to scatter; his flashes of lightning caused them to become very confused.

The bottom of the ocean became visible, and the water uncovered the foundations of the earth when Yahweh rebuked his enemies with the breath that came in his anger!

It was as though he reached down from heaven and grabbed me and pulled me up out of the deep ocean.

He rescued me from my strong enemies who hated me; they were very strong, and I could not defeat them by myself.

When I was distressed, they attacked me, but Yahweh defended me.

He made me completely safe; he rescued me because he was pleased with me.

Yahweh has rewarded me because I do what is right; he has blessed me because I am innocent.

I have obeyed Yahweh’s laws; I have not abandoned him.

I have followed his decrees; I have not stopped obeying them.

He knows that I have not done what is wrong and that I have kept myself from sinning.

So he rewards me because I do what is right; he knows that I have not committed sins.

Yahweh, you are faithful to those who faithfully do your covenant; you always do what is good to those who do not do evil.

You are kind to those who are honest toward others, but you act wisely toward those who act dishonestly.

You save those who are humble, but you humiliate those who are proud.

You keep me alive, and you will continue to do so.

You enable me to be strong, so that I can attack and defeat a line of enemy soldiers; with your help I can scale the walls that surround my enemies’ cities.

Everything that Yahweh my God does is perfect. We can depend on him to do what he promises. He is like a shield to protect all those who go to him to be safe.

Yahweh is the only one who is God; only he is like a huge rock on top of which we can be safe.

God is the one who enables me to be strong and who keeps me safe on the roads that I walk on.

He enables me to walk swiftly without stumbling as a deer walks in the mountains.

He teaches me how to use a strong bow in order that I can use it to fight in battles.

Yahweh, you protect and save me with your shield; you are strong and have therefore kept me safe. I have become strong because you have helped me.

You have made a safe path for me, with the result that now I do not slip.

I pursued my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until I had defeated them all.

When I strike them, they are not able to get up again; they lie on the ground, defeated.

You have enabled me to be strong in order that I can fight battles and defeat my enemies.

You delivered my enemies to me, for me to strike them on their necks. I have gotten rid of all those who hated me.

They shouted for someone to help them, but no one saved them. They shouted out to Yahweh, but he did not help them.

I crushed them to powder, and they became like the dust that the wind blows away; I threw them out like people throw dirt out into the streets.

You enabled me to defeat those who fought against me and appointed me to be the ruler of many nations; people whom I did not know about previously are now slaves in my kingdom.

When foreigners hear about me, they cringe and they obey me.

They are no longer courageous, and from their holes where they were hiding they come to me trembling.

Yahweh is alive! Praise the one who is like a huge rock on top of which I am safe! Exalt the God who saves me!

He enables me to get revenge on my enemies; he causes me to defeat nations and to rule over them.

It is Yahweh who rescues me from my enemies. He has lifted me up high so that violent men could not reach me and harm me.

So I praise him, and I tell the nations the great things that he has done.

He has enabled me, his king, to powerfully defeat my enemies; he faithfully loves me as he promised in his covenant. He loves me, David, the one he has chosen to be king, and he will faithfully love my descendants forever.

The Lord is my rock

(2 Samuel 22:1-51)

I love you, LORD, my strength.

The 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 high tower.

I call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

The cords of Sheol(a) were around me. The snares of death came on me.

In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.

The LORD also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.

He sent out his arrows, and scattered them. He routed them with great lightning bolts.

Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all his ordinances were before me. I didn’t put away his statutes from me.

I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

Therefore the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

For you will save the afflicted people, but the arrogant eyes you will bring down.

For you will light my lamp, LORD. My God will light up my darkness.

For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect. The LORD’s word is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

For who is God, except the LORD? Who is a rock, besides our God,

the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and sets me on my high places.

He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.

I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. I won’t turn away until they are consumed.

I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

They cried, but there was no one to save; even to the LORD, but he didn’t answer them.

Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their strongholds.

The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,

even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.

He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

Therefore I will give thanks to you, LORD, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name.

He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his offspring,(b) forever more.

Footnotes

(a)18:5 Sheol is the place of the dead.

(b)18:50 or, seed