Book of Psalms, No. 18
Psalms 18 NWT - New World TranslationNo. 18 of the Psalms—New World Translation (NWT)
- ¶ I shall have affection for you,[a] O Jehovah my strength.1
- ¶ Jehovah is my crag and my stronghold and the Provider of escape for me.2
My God[b] is my rock. I shall take refuge in him,[c]3
My shield and my horn of salvation, my secure height.4 - ¶ On the One to be praised, Jehovah, I shall call,5
And from my enemies I shall be saved.6 - ¶ The ropes of death encircled me;7
Flash floods of good-for-nothing [men][d] also kept terrifying me.8 - ¶ The very ropes of Sheʹol surrounded me;9
The snares of death confronted me.10 - ¶ In my distress I kept calling upon Jehovah,
And to my God[e] I kept crying for help.11
¶ Out of his temple he proceeded to hear my voice,12
And my own cry before him for help now came into his ears.13 - ¶ And the earth began to shake and rock,14
And the foundations of the mountains themselves became agitated,15
And they kept shaking back and forth because he had been angered.16 - ¶ Smoke went up at his nostrils, and fire itself from his mouth kept devouring;17
Coals themselves blazed forth from him. - ¶ And he proceeded to bend the heavens down and descend.18
And thick gloom was beneath his feet. - ¶ And he came riding upon a cherub and came flying,19
And he came darting upon the wings of a spirit.[f]20 - ¶ He then made darkness his concealment place,21
All around him as his booth,
Dark waters,[g] thick clouds.22 - ¶ Out of the brightness in front of him there were his clouds that passed by,23
Hail and burning coals of fire.24 - ¶ And in the heavens Jehovah began to thunder,25
And the Most High himself began to give his voice,26
Hail and burning coals of fire. - ¶ And he kept sending out his arrows, that he might scatter them;27
And lightnings he shot out, that he might throw them into confusion.28 - ¶ And the streambeds of waters became visible,29
And the foundations of the productive land[h] became uncovered30
From your rebuke, O Jehovah, from the blast[i] of the breath[j] of your nostrils.[k]31 - ¶ He was sending[l] from on high, he was taking me,32
He was drawing me out of great waters.33 - ¶ He was delivering me from my strong enemy,34
And from those hating me; because they were stronger than I was.35 - ¶ They kept confronting me in the day of my disaster,36
But Jehovah came to be as a support for me.37 - ¶ And he proceeded to bring me out into a roomy place;38
He was rescuing me, because he had found delight in me.39 - ¶ Jehovah rewards me according to my righteousness;40
According to the cleanness of my hands he repays me.41 - ¶ For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,42
And I have not wickedly departed from my God.43 - ¶ For all his judicial decisions are in front of me,44
And his statutes I shall not remove from myself.45 - ¶ And I will prove myself faultless with him,46
And I shall keep myself from error on my part.47 - ¶ And let Jehovah repay me according to my righteousness,48
According to the cleanness of my hands in front of his eyes.49 - ¶ With someone loyal[m] you will act in loyalty;[n]50
With the faultless, able-bodied man you will deal faultlessly;51 - ¶ With the one keeping clean you will show yourself clean;52
And with the crooked one you will show yourself tortuous;[o]53 - ¶ Because the afflicted[p] people you yourself will save;54
But the haughty eyes you will abase.55 - ¶ For you yourself will light my lamp, O Jehovah;56
My God[q] himself will make my darkness shine.57 - ¶ For by you I can run against a marauder band;58
And by my God I can climb a wall.59 - ¶ As for the [true] God, perfect is his way;60
The saying of Jehovah[r] is a refined one.61
A shield he is to all those taking refuge in him.62 - ¶ For who is a God[s] besides Jehovah?[t]63
And who is a rock except our God?[u]64 - ¶ The [true] God is the One girding me closely with vital energy,65
And he will grant my way to be perfect,66 - ¶ Making my feet like those of the hinds,67
And upon places high for me he keeps me standing.68 - ¶ He is teaching my hands for warfare,[v]69
And my arms have pressed down a bow of copper.70 - ¶ And you will give me your shield of salvation,71
And your own right hand will sustain me,72
And your own humility will make me great.[w]73 - ¶ You will make room large enough for my steps under me,74
And my ankles will certainly not wobble.75 - ¶ I shall pursue my enemies and overtake them;
And I shall not return until they are exterminated.76 - ¶ I shall break them in pieces so that they will not be able to rise up;77
They will fall under my feet.78 - ¶ And you will gird me with vital energy for warfare;
You will make those rising against me collapse under me.79 - ¶ And as for my enemies, you will certainly give me the back of [their] neck;[x]80
And as for those hating me intensely, I shall silence them.81 - ¶ They cry for help, but there is no savior,82
To Jehovah,[y] but he actually does not answer them.83 - ¶ And I shall pound them fine like dust before the wind;84
Like the mire of the streets I shall pour them out.85 - ¶ You will provide me escape from the faultfinding of the people.86
You will appoint me the head of the nations.87
A people that I have not known—they will serve me.88 - ¶ At mere hearsay they will be obedient to me;89
Foreigners[z] themselves will come cringing to me.90 - ¶ Foreigners themselves will fade away,
And they will come quaking out from their bulwarks.91 - ¶ Jehovah[aa] is living,92 and blessed be my Rock,93
And let the God of my salvation be exalted.94 - ¶ The [true] God is the Giver of acts of vengeance to me;95
And he subdues the peoples under me.96 - ¶ He is providing escape for me from my angry enemies;97
Above those who rise up against me you will lift me up,98
From the man of violence you will deliver me.99 - ¶ That is why I shall laud you among the nations, O Jehovah,100
And to your name I will make melody.101 - ¶ He is doing great acts of salvation for his king102
And exercising loving-kindness[ab] to his anointed one,[ac]103
To David and to his seed[ad] to time indefinite.104
FOOTNOTES
- ^ Or, “I shall exalt you,” by a correction of M.
- ^ “My God.” Heb., ʼE·liʹ.
- ^ Or, “my rock in which I shall take refuge.”
- ^ Or, “of no usefulness.” Lit., “of belial.”
- ^ “My God.” Heb., ʼElo·haiʹ.
- ^ Or, “wings of wind [LXXVg, “winds”].” Heb., kan·pheh-ruʹach.
- ^ Lit., “darkness of waters.”
- ^ “The inhabited earth,” LXX (the same word as in Mt 24:14); Lat., orʹbis ter·raʹrum, “circle of the whole earth.”
- ^ “From the blast.” Heb., min·nish·mathʹ; in Ge 2:7, “breath.”
- ^ “Breath of.” Heb., ruʹach; Gr., pneuʹma·tos; Lat., spiʹri·tus. See Ge 1:2 ftn, “Force.”
- ^ Or, “anger.”
- ^ Or, “reaching,” that is, sending out his hand.
- ^ Or, “one of loving-kindness.”
- ^ Or, “act in loving-kindness.”
- ^ “Tortuous,” like a wrestler, according to the Heb. root verb.
- ^ Or, “humble.”
- ^ “My God.” Heb., ʼElo·haiʹ.
- ^ “Jehovah.” Heb., Yehwahʹ; Gr. ms Ambrosian O 39 sup. See App 1C §10.
- ^ “God.” Heb., ʼElohʹah, sing. of ʼElo·himʹ. See Job 3:4 ftn.
- ^ See App 1C §10.
- ^ “Our God.” Heb., ʼElo·hehʹnu.
- ^ Or, “the battle.”
- ^ Or, “increase.”
- ^ That is, make them flee before me.
- ^ See App 1C §10.
- ^ Lit., “sons of a foreign (country).”
- ^ See App 1C §10.
- ^ Or, “loyal love.”
- ^ “To his anointed one.” Heb., lim·shi·chohʹ; Gr., khri·stoiʹ; Syr., lam·shi·cheh; Lat., chriʹsto.
- ^ Or, “offspring; posterity.”
REFERENCES
- ^ Ps 18:32; 118:14; Is 12:2
- ^ Ps 3:3; 37:40; 40:17; 70:5; 144:2
- ^ 2Sa 23:3; Ps 46:1
- ^ Ge 15:1; De 32:4; 2Sa 22:3; Pr 2:7; Lu 1:69
- ^ 2Sa 22:4; Ps 69:34; 2Co 11:31
- ^ Ps 50:15; Lu 1:71
- ^ 1Sa 20:3; Ps 116:3; Mt 26:66
- ^ 2Sa 20:1; 22:5; Ps 22:16
- ^ 2Sa 22:6; Ps 88:3
- ^ Ec 9:12
- ^ Ps 50:15; 130:1
- ^ 1Sa 3:3; 2Sa 22:7; 1Ch 16:1; Ps 11:4; Jon 2:7
- ^ Ex 3:7; Ps 10:17; 34:15; 1Pe 3:12
- ^ Jg 5:4; Eze 38:19; Hg 2:6
- ^ 2Sa 22:8
- ^ Ps 77:18; 97:4; Re 16:18
- ^ 2Sa 22:9; Is 30:27
- ^ 2Sa 22:10; Ps 144:5; Is 64:1
- ^ Ps 99:1
- ^ Ps 104:3; Heb 1:7
- ^ Ps 97:2
- ^ Jb 36:29
- ^ 2Sa 22:13
- ^ Ps 97:3
- ^ 1Sa 2:10; 7:10
- ^ 2Sa 22:14; Ps 29:3
- ^ Jos 10:10; Is 30:30
- ^ 2Sa 22:15; Jb 36:32; Ps 144:6
- ^ Ps 74:15; 106:9; 114:3
- ^ 2Sa 22:16; Ps 9:8
- ^ Ex 15:8
- ^ 2Sa 22:17; Ps 57:3
- ^ Ps 32:6; 124:4
- ^ 2Sa 22:18; Ps 3:7
- ^ Ps 35:10
- ^ 1Sa 19:11; 23:26
- ^ Is 50:10
- ^ Ps 31:8; 118:5
- ^ Ps 149:4
- ^ 1Sa 26:23; 1Ki 8:32; Pr 11:18
- ^ 1Sa 24:11; Ps 24:4
- ^ 2Sa 22:22
- ^ Ps 119:102
- ^ 2Sa 22:23
- ^ De 8:11
- ^ Ge 6:9; 2Sa 22:24; Ps 84:11
- ^ Pr 14:16
- ^ Is 3:10; Heb 11:6
- ^ 2Sa 22:25; Pr 5:21
- ^ Ps 97:10; Je 3:12
- ^ Jb 34:11; Je 32:19
- ^ Da 12:10; Mt 5:8
- ^ 2Sa 22:27; Ps 125:5
- ^ Jb 34:28
- ^ Jb 10:16; 40:11; Pr 6:17; Is 2:11; Lu 18:14
- ^ 2Sa 22:29; Ps 132:17
- ^ Ps 97:11; Is 42:16
- ^ 2Sa 5:19; Pp 4:13; Heb 11:34
- ^ 2Sa 22:30
- ^ De 32:4; 2Sa 22:31; Da 4:37; Re 15:3
- ^ Ps 12:6; 19:8; 119:140
- ^ Ps 18:2; 84:11; Pr 30:5
- ^ 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 22:32; Ps 86:8; Is 45:5
- ^ De 32:31
- ^ Ps 28:7; 84:7
- ^ 2Sa 22:33; Is 26:7
- ^ Hab 3:19
- ^ De 32:13; 2Sa 22:34
- ^ Ps 144:1
- ^ 2Sa 22:35
- ^ Ge 15:1; De 33:29; Ps 28:7
- ^ Ps 17:7
- ^ 2Sa 22:36; Ps 113:6
- ^ Ps 4:1
- ^ 2Sa 22:37; Ps 17:5
- ^ 2Sa 22:38
- ^ Ps 2:9; 110:5
- ^ 2Sa 22:39; Ps 110:6
- ^ 2Sa 22:40; Ps 44:5; 144:2
- ^ Ge 49:8; Ex 23:27; Jos 10:24
- ^ 2Sa 22:41; Ps 21:8; 34:21
- ^ 2Sa 22:42
- ^ Jb 35:12; Pr 1:28; Is 1:15; Je 11:11; 14:12; Mc 3:4; Zc 7:13
- ^ 2Sa 22:43
- ^ Is 10:6; Zc 10:5; Ml 4:3
- ^ 1Sa 30:6; 2Sa 22:44
- ^ 2Sa 8:3; Ps 2:8; 1Ti 6:15; Re 19:16
- ^ Is 55:5; 65:1; Ac 15:14
- ^ 2Sa 22:45
- ^ De 33:29
- ^ 2Sa 22:46; Mc 7:17
- ^ 2Sa 22:47; Je 10:10; 1Ti 4:10
- ^ De 32:4
- ^ Ex 15:2
- ^ De 32:35; 2Sa 22:48; Ps 94:1; Na 1:2; Ro 12:19
- ^ Ps 47:3; 1Co 15:25
- ^ Ps 59:1
- ^ 2Sa 7:9
- ^ 2Sa 22:49; Ps 140:1
- ^ De 32:43; Ps 117:1; Is 11:10; Ro 15:9
- ^ 1Ch 16:9; Ps 108:3
- ^ 1Sa 2:10; Ps 2:6; 144:10
- ^ 2Sa 7:15; 1Ki 3:6; Ps 89:20
- ^ Ps 89:36; Is 9:7; Lu 1:33; Re 5:5
Read Psalm 18 in other Bible versions:
