The 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, my stronghold.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh 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.
- KJV The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
- BSB 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.
- NASB The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my savior, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- NLT The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.
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
David piles up images of God as rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, and stronghold. It matters because it portrays the many-sided security found in God alone.
Overview
David heaps together metaphors, rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn of salvation, and high tower, to capture how completely God protects and saves him. Each image emphasizes strength, refuge, and rescue. These titles point to the Lord as the believer's sure defense, fully embodied in Christ, the rock and salvation of his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 144:2my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me.
- Ps 62:7With God is my salvation and my honor. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
- Ps 19:14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer.
- Prov 18:10Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
- Ps 91:2I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”
- Ps 62:2He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress — I will never be greatly shaken.
- 2 Sam 22:3God is my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge. My savior, you save me from violence.
- Jer 16:19Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.
- Isa 32:2A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
- Ps 91:4He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
- Prov 2:7He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;
- Heb 2:13Again, “I will put my trust in him.” Again, “Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me.”
- Ps 28:1By David. To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me; lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
- Ps 59:11Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
- Ps 75:10I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
- Ps 132:17There I will make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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 18:2 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.