Psalm 18
W. van der Kamp, 1972
- Thee, LORD, I love; Thou art my strength and power.
My fortress is the LORD, my rock and tower;
He, my Deliverer, to Him I flee,
My shield, my Helper, who will rescue me.
My stronghold and the horn of my salvation,
To Him I bring my praise and adoration.
I call upon the LORD; He hears my pleas,
And I am saved from all my enemies.
- Death bound me with its dreaded cords and racked me;
The roaring floods of wickedness attacked me.
I lay in death’s entangling cords ensnared;
The grave confronted me and I despaired.
I called upon the LORD my God to save me;
He saw my plight, His mighty help He gave me.
He from His temple heard my voice and cry;
They reached His ears, He answered from on high.
- Then reeled the earth, its pillars rocked and quavered;
The deep foundations of the mountains wavered.
Because the LORD was angry, they did quake;
They trembled when they saw His wrath awake.
The smoke rose from His nostrils, black and frightening,
And from His mouth flashed scorching fire and lightning.
He bowed the heavens in His anger’s heat,
While clouds of darkness swirled around His feet.
- He rode upon a cherub bright and splendid;
On wings of storm and wind the LORD descended.
With darkness covered was His majesty;
Clouds dark with water were His canopy.
Light was His crown and brightness went before Him,
Red fire and hail broke through the clouds that bore Him.
His thunder roared and echoed through the sky;
His mighty voice shook vale and mountain high.
- The LORD did speak, the heavens heard His thunder;
His mighty voice tore clouds and sky asunder.
He sent His arrows, scattered all His foes;
His lightnings flashed, none dared His wrath oppose.
The ocean’s deep, the bedrock of creation,
Lay bare and dry, revealing earth’s foundation.
At Thy rebuke, O LORD, all stood aghast
Before Thy nostrils’ angry breath and blast.
- From His high heavens He reached down to take me
Out of the waters - He did not forsake me!
He saved me from my fiercest enemy
And from my haters much too strong for me.
In my calamity they came upon me;
But for the LORD, their onslaught had undone me.
He came to rescue and to set me free,
For He, the LORD my God, delights in me.
- The LORD rewarded me, He saved and stayed me,
According to my righteousness repaid me;
For my clean hands and for my innocence.
He did with gifts and grace me recompense.
I’ve kept His ways, He therefore did restore me;
His statutes and His laws have stood before me.
I kept myself from all iniquity;
For this the LORD has now rewarded me.
- Yea, mercy to the merciful Thou showest,
And just to him whose justice well Thou knowest
Art Thou, O LORD, whose wrath none can endure,
And with the pure Thou showest Thyself pure.
The cunning man shalt Thou outdo in cunning,
For with Thy bounties shall be overrunning
The cup of those who humbly fear Thy Name,
But haughty eyes Thou bringest down to shame.
- Yea, Thou dost light my lamp, Thou shalt restore me;
The LORD my God makes bright the dark before me.
With Thee I crush a troop and conquer all,
And with my God I scale the highest wall.
The way of God is perfect, truth availing,
His word is tried and proven, never failing.
A shield for those who with Him refuge take
Is He, our God, whose power none can shake.
- Who but our God is Lord of all creation?
And who but He, the rock of our salvation?
He who with strength and power girded me
Made safe my way; my haters cringe and flee.
Exult in songs, praise Him with harp and cymbal;
He made my feet like hinds’ feet, swift and nimble.
God is with me, my enemies He smites;
I am secure, He puts me on the heights.
- O LORD, Thy hand and power shall sustain me,
And for the day of battle Thou dost train me
So that my arms can bend the strongest bow;
With Thee my enemies I’ll overthrow.
Thou gavest me the shield of Thy salvation,
And Thy right hand upheld my place and station;
Thy help has made me glorious and great;
I did not slip; my path was wide and straight.
- LORD, when I met my enemies in battle
I drove them off, they fled like frightened cattle.
In my pursuit I overtook them all;
I routed them, delighting in their fall.
I thrust them through, they staggered and they stumbled;
Beneath my feet they lay, prostrate and humbled.
Me Thou didst gird with strength my foes to meet,
Made my assailants sink beneath my feet.
- Thou makest all my enemies to leave me;
I have destroyed the men who hate and grieve me
And all who for my doom and downfall crave.
They cried for help, but there was none to save.
I beat them fine, to wind-blown dust I pounded
The men who without cause my life have hounded.
Gone is their pride, their boast, and their conceit;
I cast them out like refuse of the streets.
- Me hast Thou saved from strife and provocations
And made the head of other tribes and nations.
I’m served by people whom I’ve never known,
And foreigners came cringing to my throne,
For when they heard of me, they all obeyed me
Because Thou with Thy glory hast arrayed me.
Strange nations left their strongholds, weak with fear,
And trembling they before my throne appear.
- The LORD does live, I bless Him with elation;
Exalted be the rock of my salvation,
The God who gave me vengeance, who subdued
The peoples under me in servitude.
Thou didst exalt me when my foes disgraced me;
Above my adversaries hast Thou placed me.
From men of violence and cruelty,
From all my foes didst Thou deliver me.
- For this, O LORD, I will among the nations
Extol Thy Name and bring Thee my oblations,
And praises to Thy Name I gladly sing:
Great triumphs He has given to His king.
His steadfast love He shows to His anointed,
To David, now to Israel’s throne appointed.
To all his generations without end
Shall He, the LORD, His faithfulness extend.