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18 ‎[1] **To the chief musician,**** by David servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord saved him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. **This psalm also appears in II Samuel 22, with various minor linguistic differences. Psalm 18 is apparently a slightly revised version of the more ancient text found in Samuel, which contains archaic language and a number of expressions whose meanings remain unclear.
‎[2] **And he said: I love You, Lord, my strength.**** ***Raĥamu *means “love” in Aramaic, though generally this root connotes “mercy” in Hebrew. This is also the meaning of the root in ancient Hebrew, and that is the sense of *erĥamkha* here, “I love You.” David expresses his love for God, then continues with detailed words of praise:
‎[3] **The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my Redeemer. **Several levels of protection are mentioned here. A rock is something one can lean on or climb onto in order to escape various troubles. A fortress is a protective physical structure. “My Redeemer” describes God as being actively involved in the rescue. **My Almighty, my mighty rock. I take refuge in Him, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. **The verse describes God’s continually increasing support.
‎[4] **I call in praise to the Lord, and I am delivered from my enemies. **
‎[5] **Cords of death were wrapped around me. **“Cords of death” [*ĥevlei mavet*] is a poetic phrase that has a double meaning. The simple meaning is that death is like a cord that ultimately binds and ropes in all men. But *ĥevlei* can also mean “pains,” indicating physical suffering or connoting troubles and distress that envelop a person as though he were bound by cords. **Floods of wickedness terrified me.**
‎[6] **Cords of the grave surrounded me; snares of death, **traps from which escape is all but impossible,** confronted me. **
‎[7] **In my distress I called to the Lord, cried out to my God. From His dwelling place He heard my voice, and my cry reached His ears. **
‎[8] The second part of this psalm depicts the glory and power of God’s revelation. This section is not directly related to events in David’s life. It is, rather, a general description of revelation, reminiscent of songs depicting the revelation at Mount Sinai and the like.* ***The earth shook and quaked. Foundations of mountains trembled, shaken because of His anger. **
‎[9] **Smoke arose from His nostrils, a consuming fire from His mouth; burning coals emerged from Him. **These are descriptions of God’s revelation in fire and smoke.
‎[10] **He bent the heavens and came down. **It is not as if the Master of the Universe descends from the heavens, not even metaphorically; rather, He lowers the heavens toward earth. **A dense cloud is beneath His feet. **
‎[11] **He mounted a cherub and flew. **Cherubs are symbolic of the divine chariot, as described in Ezekiel, as well as the Divine Presence, as in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. **And He soared on wings of wind. **
‎[12] **He engulfed His secret place in darkness, His sheltered surroundings, the darkness of waters. **This apparently refers to the darkness of black rainclouds, **clouds of the skies. **
‎[13] Though engulfed in darkness, **from the radiance **that is **before Him, **behind all that concealment, **hail and coals of fire passed through His clouds.** Revelation is depicted here using imagery of hail and coals of fire breaking through the clouds of concealment.
‎[14] **And the Lord thundered in the heavens, the voice of the Most High spewing forth hail and coals of fire. **The combination of ice and fire is an expression of divine power.
‎[15] **He shot His arrows and dispersed them, **His enemies. **Many bolts of lightning confounded them. **
‎[16] In the midst of all this, **streams of water appeared. **The world was shaken up, causing sources of water to be displaced, as during the splitting of the Red Sea. **And the foundations of the world were laid bare. **The lower foundations of the world were exposed; unknown depths could be seen. All this occurred as a consequence of God’s wrath: **At Your rebuke, Lord, from the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. **
‎[17] Until this point, the psalm describes God’s power over the world. Yet His greatness also has a more intimate, personal aspect:** He sent **His hand, through various agents,** from above, and He took me** to lift me out of trouble. **He drew me out of surging waters. **
‎[18] Or, in more concrete terms, without metaphor, **He rescued me from my mighty enemy, from those who hated me, when they were too strong for me. **
‎[19] **They confronted me on the day of my calamity, but **at a time when enemies were poised and ready to attack, **the Lord was my support. **
‎[20] **He brought me out into an open space. **He moved me from a place of distress to one of relief. **He rescued me because He delighted in me. **
‎[21] There is a reason that God rescued me from adversity and attack: **God has rewarded me for my righteousness; for the purity of my hands He has requited me. **
‎[22] **For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. **
‎[23] **For all His judgments were before me; **I was always aware of His laws, **and I did not dismiss His statutes. **
‎[24] **I was blameless with Him and guarded myself from iniquity. **
‎[25] **And the Lord requited me for my righteousness, for the purity of my hands in His eyes. **God, in His mercy, acknowledges my innocence. This attribute of mercy is the way of God, and He does not limit it to a particular person with whom He has a special relationship.
‎[26] **With the pious You act mercifully; with a guileless man You behave without guile. **
‎[27] **You are pure with the purehearted; with the crooked You are devious. **You behave forthrightly with the innocent, but You are cunning with those who take devious paths.
‎[28] **For You rescue the poor, and, **on the other hand, You **abase those with haughty looks. **
‎[29] Once again, the psalm takes on a personal tone: **For You light my lamp **to shine before me and lead the way,** Lord my God, illuminating my darkness. **
‎[30] **For with You,** with Your assistance,** I can shatter a troop. With my God, **with His help,** I can leap over walls. **This is an allusion to the cities captured by King David; it was as if he flew over their walls.
‎[31] **The Almighty’s way is blameless, **bestowing upon each individual the reward or punishment that exactly suits his deeds. **The word of the Lord is purity. ***Tzerufa*, translated as “purity,” literally refers to the process of refinement of precious metals, purging them of impurities.** He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him. **
‎[32] **For who is a god but the Lord? And who is a mighty rock except our God? **
‎[33] The psalmist, relying on God, benefits from His protection: **The Almighty girds me with strength and shows me a straight path. **
‎[34] **He makes my feet as swift as deer and sets me in high places. **
‎[35] **He trains my hands for battle, and my arms are made as **unbreakable as **a bow of bronze. **
‎[36] **You have given me the shield of Your salvation, **Your protection, and the success it helps me achieve; **and Your right hand, **Your power and Your support,** assists me.** **Your humility, **Your willingness to descend to my aid, **makes me grow great. **
‎[37] Metaphorically, **You lengthen my strides beneath me, and my feet do not stumble. **You have enabled me to advance rapidly, without falling.
‎[38] Because of Your help in enabling me to stride broadly and swiftly, **I pursue my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until they are utterly destroyed. **
‎[39] **I crush them so they are unable to rise; they fall beneath my feet. **
‎[40] **You girded me with strength for battle. You brought down beneath me those who rose against me. **
‎[41] **And you have made my enemies turn their backs to** **me **in flight;** I destroyed those who hated me. **
‎[42] **They cried out for help, but there was no savior** for them;** they turned to the Lord, who did not answer them. **
‎[43] **Then I beat them as fine as dust in the wind; **nothing at all was left of them. **I poured them out like mud in the streets. **
‎[44] **You delivered me from the strife of **other **peoples; You placed me at the head of nations.** My success was so great that I ruled not only over nations neighboring the Land of Israel but also over faraway places, and **a people whom I have not known serve me.** The king’s reputation of great power was such that even nations he did not know submitted to his sovereignty.
‎[45] **As soon as they hear, they obey me; foreigners submit to me. **Foreigners who know me only by reputation are willing to submit to my commands. The word *yekhaĥashu*,** **translated here as “submit,” literally means “to act with deceit.” My enemies feign loyalty to me so they can benefit from my goodwill. The fact that his enemies feel obliged to conceal their adversarial status and lie and abase themselves before him is a clear manifestation of the ruler’s power.
‎[46] **Foreigners, exhausted, emerge **defeated** from their fortresses. **
‎[47] The psalmist concludes: **The Lord lives; blessed is my mighty rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation, **
‎[48] **the Almighty who executes vengeance for me and destroys nations beneath me. **Alternatively, the word *yadber*, translated here as “destroys,” can mean “leads” or “brings”: The Almighty brings nations under my rule.
‎[49] He** rescues me from my enemies, lifts me above those who rise against me, **and **saves me from men of violence. **
‎[50] **For this I give thanks to You among the nations, Lord, and sing praises to Your name. **
‎[51] **He increases deliverance to His king. **God continually increases the support He gives to David, the king He chose. He **shows kindness to His anointed, to David and to his descendants, **to whom the kingship of Israel was promised **eternally. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center