A storm moving off: a great pale limestone crag stands over a rain-dark valley, hail melting white on the rocks at its foot, under a clean empty pale-blue sky.

Thanksgiving · David

Psalm 18

After every cave, every spear and every close call, David looks back and sings.

50 verses≈ 7 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–41Book IDavid's prayers: 'The LORD is my shepherd'Psalm 18
42–72Book II'As the deer pants'; the throne under pressure
73–89Book IIIAsaph and Korah: the kingdom falls
90–106Book IVBack to Moses: the LORD reigns
107–150Book VSongs of ascents, and the last Hallelujah

The LORD Is My Rock

For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the LORD, who sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

A cleft high in a pale cliff in hard clear light, a goat path climbing to it, a natural ledge and a low screen of piled stones at its mouth, no one there.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold.

I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;

so shall I be saved from my enemies.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

Then the earth shook and quaked,

and the foundations of the mountains trembled;

they were shaken because He burned with anger.

Smoke rose from His nostrils,

and consuming fire came from His mouth;

glowing coals blazed forth.

A great thunderstorm breaks over the Judean hills at dusk: forked lightning strikes a far ridge, sheets of rain and hail slant down, and wind bends the oaks on a slope, under one smooth, heavy canopy of dark cloud.

He parted the heavens and came down

with dark clouds beneath His feet.

He mounted a cherub and flew;

He soared on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness His hiding place,

and storm clouds a canopy around Him.

From the brightness of His presence

His clouds advanced—

hailstones and coals of fire.

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

The LORD thundered from heaven;

the voice of the Most High resounded—

hailstones and coals of fire.

He shot His arrows and scattered the foes;

He hurled lightning and routed them.

The channels of the sea appeared,

and the foundations of the world were exposed,

at Your rebuke, O LORD,

at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

Morning: David, seen from behind, walks out of the mouth of a narrow, shadowed limestone gorge into a broad, sunlit valley of green grass and scattered oaks.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from foes too mighty for me.

They confronted me in my day of calamity,

but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into the open;

He rescued me because He delighted in me.

Reflect

Your own list

David’s song is a list of rescues. What is on yours? Write one down: a day you were in over your head, and how you came out of it.

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness;

He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

For all His ordinances are before me;

I have not disregarded His statutes.

And I have been blameless before Him

and kept myself from iniquity.

So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

To the faithful You show Yourself faithful,

to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

to the pure You show Yourself pure,

but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

For You save an afflicted people,

but You humble those with haughty eyes.

Question

Quick question

This song is in the Bible twice: here and in 2 Samuel 22.

Which line does the Psalm have that the copy in 2 Samuel does not?

Sunrise in the Judean hills: a slender deer stands sure-footed on a narrow limestone ledge high above a deep gorge, the valley still in shadow far below.

It is God who arms me with strength

and makes my way clear.

He makes my feet like those of a deer

and stations me upon the heights.

He trains my hands for battle;

my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You have given me Your shield of salvation;

Your right hand upholds me,

and Your gentleness exalts me.

You broaden the path beneath me

so that my ankles do not give way.

I pursued my enemies and overtook them;

I did not turn back until they were consumed.

I crushed them so they could not rise;

they have fallen under my feet.

A rutted, empty road across a bare plain after a far army has gone: wind lifting the dust in long ragged sheets, a broken spear shaft lying by the rut.

You have armed me with strength for battle;

You have subdued my foes beneath me.

You have made my enemies retreat before me;

I destroyed those who hated me.

They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—

to the LORD, but He did not answer.

I ground them as dust in the face of the wind;

I trampled them like mud in the streets.

You have delivered me from the strife of the people;

You have made me the head of nations;

a people I had not known shall serve me.

When they hear me, they obey me;

foreigners cower before me.

Foreigners lose heart

and come trembling from their strongholds.

The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock!

And may the God of my salvation be exalted—

the God who avenges me

and subdues nations beneath me,

who delivers me from my enemies.

You exalt me above my foes;

You rescue me from violent men.

Therefore I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations;

I will sing praises to Your name.

The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock!

On a stone ledge in quiet lamplight, a ram’s horn of oil beside a plain narrow gold circlet and a folded blue wool cloak.

Great salvation He brings to His king.

He shows loving devotion to His anointed,

to David and his descendants forever.

Pray

Thank Him by name

Go back to what you wrote down. Thank God for it by name, plainly, the way David did. Then say the line that holds the whole song together: “The LORD lives.”

You’ve experienced

Psalm 18

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A verse to carry with you

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18:2

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