For You have encircled me with strength for battle; You have forced those who rose up against me to bow down under me.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
- KJV For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
- BSB You have armed me with strength for battle; You have subdued my foes beneath me.
- NKJV For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
- NLT You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
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
God arms David with strength for battle and subdues his adversaries beneath him. Every victory is attributed to the Lord's enabling power.
Overview
David repeatedly returns to the theme that God, not himself, accomplishes the conquest. The Lord both equips ('armed me with strength') and acts ('subdued under me'). This humble crediting of God models the believer's posture: our spiritual victories are wholly of grace, won for us in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 2 Sam 22:40–41For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
- Ps 18:32the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?
- 1 Cor 15:25–28For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
- Isa 45:14Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
- Eph 1:22He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
- John 15:23He who hates me, hates my Father also.
- 1 Chr 22:18“Isn’t Yahweh your God with you? Hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Yahweh, and before his people.
- Ezek 30:24–25I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groaning of a mortally wounded man.
- Prov 8:36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
- Ps 34:21Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
- Lam 5:5Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.
- Phil 3:21who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
- Ps 66:3Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
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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 18:39 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.