Psalm 18: The LORD Is My Rock

¹I will love you, O LORD, my strength. ²The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. ³I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I shall be saved from my enemies. ⁴The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. ⁵The sorrows of hell surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. ⁶In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears. ⁷Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was angry. ⁸Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it. ⁹He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰And he rode upon a cherub and flew; yes, he flew upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion around him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. ¹²At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. ¹³The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High gave his voice; hailstones and coals of fire. ¹⁴Yes, he sent out his arrows and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings and defeated them. ¹⁵Then the channels of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. ¹⁶He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. ¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. ¹⁹He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. ²⁰The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has repaid me. ²¹For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²²For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. ²³I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁴Therefore the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. ²⁵With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright. ²⁶With the pure, you will show yourself pure; and with the stubborn, you will show yourself contrary. ²⁷For you will save the afflicted people, but will humble those with proud looks. ²⁸For you will light my candle; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. ²⁹For by you I have run through a troop, and by my God I have leaped over a wall. ³⁰As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried. He is a shield to all those who trust in him. ³¹For who is God except the LORD? Or who is a rock except our God? ³²It is God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect. ³³He makes my feet like those of a deer and sets me on my high places. ³⁴He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. ³⁵You have also given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great. ³⁶You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. ³⁷I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn again until they were consumed. ³⁸I have wounded them so that they were not able to rise; they have fallen under my feet. ³⁹For you have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴⁰You have also given me the necks of my enemies, that I might destroy those who hate me. ⁴¹They cried, but there was none to save them — even to the LORD, but he answered them not. ⁴²Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I cast them out as the dirt in the streets. ⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people, and you have made me the head of the heathen; a people whom I have not known shall serve me. ⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me; the strangers shall submit themselves to me. ⁴⁵The strangers shall fade away and come trembling from their hiding places. ⁴⁶The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. ⁴⁷It is God who avenges me and subdues the people under me. ⁴⁸He delivers me from my enemies; yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me; you have rescued me from the violent man. ⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises to your name. ⁵⁰Great deliverance he gives to his king, and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore.