‏ Psalms 18

1For the end,a Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord;the words which he spoke to the Lord,even the words of this Song, in the day in which the Lord delivered him out the hand of allhis enemies, and out the hand of Saul: and he said: I will love you, O Lord, my strength.
2The Lord is my firm support, and my refuge, and my deliverer; my God is my helper,I will hope in him;he is my defender, and the horn of my salvation, and my helper.
3I will call upon the Lord with praises, and I shall be saved from mine enemies.
4The pangs of death compassed me, and the torrents of ungodliness troubled me exceedingly.
5The pangs of hell came round about me: the snares of death prevented me.
6And when I was afflicted I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: he heardmy voice out of this holy temple, and my cry shall enter before him,even into his ears.
7Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains were disturbed,and were shaken, because God was angry with them.
8There went up a smoke in his wrath, and fire burst into a flame at his presence:coals were kindled at it.
9And he bowed the heaven, and came down: and thick darkness was under his feet.
10And he mounted on cherubs and flew: he flew on the wings of winds.
11And he made darkness his secret place: round about him was his tabernacle,even dark water in the clouds of the air.
12At the brightness before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire.
13The Lord also thundered from heaven, and the Highest uttered his voice.
14And he sent forthhis weapons, and scattered them; and multiplied lightnings, and routed them.
15And the springs of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed,at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blasting of the breath of your wrath.
16He sent from on high and took me, he drew me to himself out of many waters.
17He will deliver me from my mighty enemies, and from them that hate me; for theyare stronger than I.
18They prevented me in the day of mine affliction: but the Lord was my stay againstthem.
19And he brought me out into a wide place: he will deliver me, because he has pleasurein me.
20And the Lord will recompense me according to my righteousness; even accordingto the purity of my hands will he recompense me.
21For I have kept the way of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22For all his judgments were before me, and his ordinances departed not from me.
23And I shall be blameless with hem, and shall keep myself from mine iniquity.
24And the Lord shall recompense me according to my righteousness, and accordingto the purity of my hands before his eyes.
25With the holy you will be holy; and with the innocent man you will be innocent.
26And with the excellentman you will be excellent; and with the perverse you will show frowardness.
27For you will save the lowly people, and will humble the eyes of the proud.
28For you, O Lord, will light my lamp: my God, you will lighten my darkness.
29For by you shall I be delivered from a troop; and by my God I will pass over awall.
30As for my God, his way is perfect: the oracles of the Lord are tried in the fire; he is a protectorof all them that hope in him.
31For who is God but the Lord? and who is a God except our God?
32It is God that girds me with strength, and has made my way blameless:
33who strengthens my feet as hart's feet, and sets me upon high places.
34He instructs my hands for war: and you have made my armsas a brazen bow.
35And you have made me secure in my salvation: and your right hand has helped me,and your correction has upheld me to the end; yes, your correction itself shall instruct me.
36You has made room for my goings under me, and by footsteps did not fail.
37I will pursue mine enemies, and overtake them; and I will not turn back untilthey are consumed.
38I will dash them to pieces and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fallunder my feet.
39For you have girded me with strength for war: you have beaten down under me allthat rose up against me.
40And you has made mine enemies turn their backs before me; and you have destroyedthem that hated me.
41They cried, but there was no deliverer:even to the Lord, but he hearkened not to them.
42I will grind them as the mud of the streets: and I will beat them small as dustbefore the wind.
43Deliver me from the gain sayings of the people: you shall make me head of theGentiles: a people whom I knew not served me,
44at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me: the strange children lied to me.
45The strange children waxed old, and fell away from their paths through lameness.
46The Lord lives; and blessedbe my God; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47It is God that avenges me, and has subdued the nations under me;
48my deliverer from angry enemies: you shall set me on high above them that riseup against me: you shall deliver me from the unrighteous man.
49Therefore will I confess to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing to yourname.
50God magnifies the deliverances of his king; and deals mercifully with David his anointed, andhis seed, for ever.