For who is God, except Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God,
Parallel translations
- KJV For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
- BSB For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
- NKJV For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
- NASB For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God,
- NLT For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?
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 asks who is God besides Yahweh and who is a rock besides our God. It matters because it affirms the Lord alone as the true God and only sure foundation.
Overview
By rhetorical question David confesses that there is no God but Yahweh and no rock but their God. This is a declaration of God's unrivaled supremacy and reliability. The exclusive worship of the one true God runs to its fulfillment in the gospel, where salvation is found in no other name than Christ's.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Deut 32:31For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
- Ps 86:8There is no one like you among the gods, Lord, nor any deeds like your deeds.
- 2 Sam 22:32For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God?
- Isa 45:5I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;
- Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
- 1 Sam 2:2There is no one as holy as Yahweh, For there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.
- Isa 45:21–22Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; There is no one besides me.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 18:31 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.