Limitless Word

Psalms 18

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Part of Book I📖 Psalms introduction

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1For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, I love you, Yahweh, my strength. ✦ 2Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. ✦ 3I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies. ✦ 4The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. ✦ 5The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me. ✦ 6In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears. ✦ 7Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. ✦ 8Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. ✦ 9He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. ✦ 10He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind. ✦ 11He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. ✦ 12At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. ✦ 13Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire. ✦ 14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them. ✦ 15Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. ✦ 16He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. ✦ 17He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me. ✦ 18They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support. ✦ 19He brought me out also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. ✦ 20Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. ✦ 21For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ✦ 22For all his ordinances were before me. I didn’t put away his statutes from me. ✦ 23I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity. ✦ 24Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. ✦ 25With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect. ✦ 26With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd. ✦ 27For you will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes you will bring down. ✦ 28For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness. ✦ 29For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall. ✦ 30As for God, his way is perfect. Yahweh’s word is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. ✦ 31For who is God, except Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God, ✦ 32the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect? ✦ 33He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and sets me on my high places. ✦ 34He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze. ✦ 35You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great. ✦ 36You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped. ✦ 37I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again until they are consumed. ✦ 38I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet. ✦ 39For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ✦ 40You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. ✦ 41They cried, but there was no one to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them. ✦ 42Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets. ✦ 43You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. ✦ 44As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me. ✦ 45The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places. ✦ 46Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation, ✦ 47even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me. ✦ 48He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man. ✦ 49Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name. ✦ 50He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his offspring, forever more. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

2 Sam 22 ·32Ps 144 ·11Deut 32 ·10Ps 18 ·9Ps 119 ·8Ps 17 ·6Luke 1 ·6Hab 3 ·6

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryPsalms (Tyndale OT Commentaries)Derek Kidner · Paid · evangelical

    Concise, theologically rich, and wonderfully accessible — the best place to start on the Psalms.

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — Psalms 18David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Psalms 18Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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