For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall.
Parallel translations
- WEB For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.
- KJV For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
- BSB For in You I can charge an army, and with my God I can scale a wall.
- NASB For by You I can run at a troop of warriors; And by my God I can leap over a wall.
- NLT In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
By God's strength David can charge a troop and leap over a wall. It matters because God empowers his people to overcome obstacles beyond their natural ability.
Overview
David credits God with enabling him to run against a hostile band and scale a defensive wall. His victories come not from his own power but from God working in and through him. This dependence on divine strength anticipates the believer's ability to overcome through Christ who strengthens them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Sam 22:30For by you, I run against a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.
- Eph 6:10–13Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
- 2 Cor 12:9–10He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- Rev 3:21He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.
- Col 2:15having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
- 1 Cor 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
- Ps 44:6–7For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.
- Ps 144:10You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.
- Ps 144:1By David. Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle:
- 2 Sam 5:19–20David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
- 1 Sam 23:2Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”
- 2 Sam 5:25David did so, as Yahweh commanded him, and struck the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.
- 1 Sam 17:49David put his hand in his bag, took a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.
- 1 Sam 30:8David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue; for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all.”
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:29 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.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.