Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS 25 Jan 2015
17 He will cause to
deliver me from my strong enemy
and from the ones who hate me because they were stronger than me .
18 They will confront me
in my day of calamity,
but Yahweh will be [there] for support for me.
19 So He will bring me
out to [where there is] room;
He will snatch me away because He delights in me.
20 Yahweh will deal with
me according to my righteousness;
He will make a return to me according to [the] cleanness of my hands.
21 For I kept the ways of
Yahweh,
and I was not detached from my God.
22 For all His judgments
correspond with me,
and I do not cause His statutory-laws to be removed from me.
23 So I have integrity
with Him
and I keep myself from my iniquity.
24 And Yahweh has made a
return to me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands corresponding to His eyes.
25 With one who is godly,
You will be godly;
with a mortal of integrity, You will show integrity
26 With one who is
purified You will show Yourself pure,
yet with one who is crooked You will show yourself convoluted.
27 For You Yourself will
cause to save a lowly people,
but haughty eyes You will bring low.
· Over 15 years ago when my twenty-something sons were all little barbarians between the ages of 1 and 8, my wife asked another mom in our church whose sons were delightfully mature teen and twenty-somethings what she did to raise such fine sons. Paula was pretty frustrated when the older mom replied, “Oh it was all just God’s grace.” In one sense that was true, yet in another sense, Paula knew that those parents had not just sat around on their hands, doing nothing with those boys.
· My messages on Psalm 18 form a counterbalance to the sermons I preached last October on Sonship and Passive Righteousness.
o As the Apostle Paul clearly states in Romans, we are ultimately saved by God’s grace and not by anything we do, yet here in Psalm 18 we see a counterbalance to that truth, for David saw his request for salvation, his right attitude toward God’s law, and his disciplined effort to fight as part and parcel of God’s salvation.
o On the one hand we can’t be lazy and say, “Let us go on sinning that grace may increase,” and yet on the other hand we can’t be pompous and say, “I saved myself by my own good deeds.”
o David shows us the balance in Psalm 18: God is indeed the One who saves us, and all glory goes to Him, but at the same time, God calls us to active participation in His work of salvation.
· We looked at the first of these actions in the previous sermon: In the first six verses of Psalm 18, David indicates that one of the reasons God saved him was that David called out to the Lord for salvation.
o David’s cry is not what saved him – verses 7-17 make that pretty clear – God is the one with the power to save, but in God’s providence, David’s cry was the point in time when God began intervening to save, and so that prayer to God was an important part of God’s salvation.
o Ultimately, we know that even the will to call upon the Lord for salvation and the faith that Jesus will save is a gift from God and not a work which originates from us (Eph. 2), but that prayer of faith is an important step of action for us in the process of God’s salvation.
· The second area of our activity in God’s process of salvation is highlighted in verses 19-27: God saved David because David had the right attitude toward God’s law.
o This is even marked by a change in grammar: After a string of action verbs[1] of verses 1-18, verses 19-31 change to being organized around the word “for/because” which begins phrases in seven of those verses.
o The first thing that these causal phrases introduce is David’s right attitude toward God’s law: “because He delighted in me... according to the cleanness of my hands... because I kept the ways of Jehovah... because all His judgments were in front of me... The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness.” David’s righteousness, obedience, and cleanness was a factor in his salvation.
o Is that hard for you to Calvinists to take? It does present a theological challenge to me, but I want to be honest with God’s word. What does it actually say?
· The verb structure changes here from vav-consecutive-imperfects (which are usually interpreted in the past tense) to regular imperfects (which are usually interpreted in the future). The verses before verse 16 are historical references to great deliverances orchestrated by God in the past, but I think it can be argued that, even though the standard English versions also place verses 16ff. in the past tense, they could just as accurately be translated future tense (as the LXX did for about half of these verbs) because what was true of God in the past for David will also be true of God for us in the future.
· The “large/broad/spacious/roomy place” in v.19 is the opposite of the “closed-up” (sgr) dead-end in Ps. 31:8 and the opposite of a tsr “distressful/tight spot” (Ps. 118:5) – which is exactly where David had said he was at the beginning of v.6. This ‘snatching out’ is the answer to the prayer in Ps. 6:4 (“Return, Yahweh! Snatch away my soul; save me because of Your lovingkindness”), and it is synonymous to the answered prayer in v.16 of this Psalm (18) “He drew [msh] me out of deep water.”
· v.19 is the first of the seven causal (כִּי) statements in Hebrew: “Because He delighted in me” (כִּי חָפֵץ בִּי) – This word khapheitz has a root meaning of “leaning toward,” and most of the times it is used in the Pentateuch, it describes a man “being attracted to” a woman he wants to marry. But that is not the only way it is used; Joshua and Caleb used it in the book of Numbers to describe God showing special interest in His people: “If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this [promised] land” (Num. 14:8).
o And in Psalm 22:8 God’s delight is particularly in the Messiah: “He trusted in the LORD... Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’” (NKJV)
o But that delight also extends to normal people who submit to His lordship and to His word of truth: Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.” Psalm 51:6 “You delight in truth in the inward parts...” (NKJV, cf. Isa 56: 4)
o Even more remarkable is the pleasure that God takes in forgiving our sin: Isa. 53:10 “It pleased Jehovah [that the Messiah was beaten]. He caused grief if His soul would place itself for a sin-offering” (NAW) Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. (NKJV)
· In verse 20, David says that the Lord deals with (or rewards) him according to David’s righteousness. This statement clearly relates David’s state of being “right” or “just” with how God treats him. But how did David get that justified or righteous condition?
o The last time David spoke of God “dealing with/rewarding” him was at the end of Psalm 13, where God’s dealing out salvation to David was a result of God’s lovingkindness and mercy (khesed), not David’s good works.
o Compare that with Psalm 35:27-28, “Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteousness; And let them say continually, ‘Let the LORD be magnified, Who delights [חפץ] in the peace of His servant.’ And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness And of Your praise all the day long.” Now, wait a minute, David, first you said it was your righteousness, and then you said God should be praised because it was God’s righteousness – which is it? Well, the only way to resolve this is to see it as God’s righteousness given to David so that God is rightly praised for any righteousness David has. As the Latin-speaking reformers put it “sola deo gloria.”
o A few weeks ago, someone smashed up the back of Tanner’s car while I was borrowing it. A week or so later, Tanner wrote me a note to the effect of, “Thank you Nate for totaling my car, the insurance company paid so much that I could get a nicer car!” Was the extra insurance money Tanner’s? Yes. But not because he earned it; he simply came into possession of it because of something I and the insurance company did. As a result, Tanner couldn’t thank himself for that extra cash; instead he thanked me because I played a part that lead to the extra cash. This analogy isn’t perfect, but in a similar way, David can possess righteousness, yet still give God the praise because it was God who gave David that righteousness in the first place.
· There are only two other verses in the O.T. that use this Hebrew word bor for “cleanness[2],” and both of them speak of people who did not start out being clean, but were cleansed:
o Job 22:30 “He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the cleanness of your hands.” – speaking of substitutionary atonement
o Isaiah 1: 24-26 Therefore, declares the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, “Oh, I will be relieved from my enemies and be avenged from my foes. And I will turn my hand upon you and I will smelt away your dross according to cleanness, and I will run off all your alloy. And I will cause to turn your judges... Then afterwards, it will be called for you the righteous city – faithful town.” (NAW) God relieves himself of certain enemies by washing away their sins and making them righteous!
o This leads the Psalmist (and us) to have confidence in God’s salvation for us – which otherwise would be a hope beyond hope. We can be certain that the LORD will no longer deal with His redeemed ones according to the sin which they have committed; instead He will deal with them according to the new condition of righteousness and cleanness which He himself has given them.
o This should lead us to place a high value on righteousness and moral cleanness. If God went to the trouble – to the extent of the crucifixion of His Son – in order to give us this gift of being righteous, then it is the proper response for us to protect moral purity as precious so that we stain these cleaned hands as little as possible (James 1:27) and so that we run to wash those hands in the blood of Jesus whenever they do get stained with sin (Rev. 7:14). It honors God’s gift of righteousness to be renewed in God’s forgiveness and to keep yourself morally clean by obeying God’s law.
In v. 21 it is stated positively: “I kept the ways of the Lord” and then negatively: “I did not commit treason[3] against God.” He repeats this again in v.22 positively: “I kept God’s rules in front of me” and negatively: “I did not ignore God’s decrees.” Verse 23 does the same thing, leaving off the introductory “for/because,” stating positively: “I was upright” and negatively: “I kept myself from iniquity.” He then concludes in verses 24-27 that this was a factor in his salvation!
|
Verse |
Positive statement |
Negatively stated |
|
21 |
“I kept the ways of the Lord” |
“I did not commit treason against God” |
|
22 |
“I kept God’s rules in front of me” |
“I did not ignore God’s decrees.” |
|
23 |
“I was upright” |
“I kept myself from iniquity.” |
· The “ways of the LORD” are God’s commandments which begin with loving Him
o Deut. 11:22 ...carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways... (NKJV)
o Josh. 22:5 But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments
· And yet in Psalm 51 David admits that He did not keep God’s ways and in Psalm 106:6 the psalmist admits that he did “wickedly depart” from God. What gives? I think David can only be characterizing the overall trend of his life. He is not saying that he never sins, but he is saying that the overall trend of his desires and actions has been toward keeping God’s ways rather than playing “fast and loose” with God’s law.
· In v. 22, David properly recognizes the LORD as the ultimate Law-giver and the ultimate Judge (James 4), and David claims that he used God’s laws as his standards, not disregarding any of God’s laws, and he used God’s verdicts as to how to interpret those laws as his own standard of judgment.
o This is not a claim that David perfectly obeyed all of God’s laws, just that he recognized God’s authority. He didn’t do what our city commissioners or the Alabama Supreme Court did and move the 10 Commandments away from City Hall or away from the Justice building; he recognized that the 10 Commandments and their interpretation were the only good basis for governing his country.
o This attitude of submission to the moral authority of God is not enough to take away the offense of your transgressions of God’s law and make you right with God, but it is the attitude which is characteristic of those who have been made right with God.
o To be made right with God requires first confessing that you have broken His commandments, confessing like Daniel did: “we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.” (Daniel 9:5 NKJV) “For all have sinned.” And then we apply faith that Jesus (who made the laws we broke) became human and died on the cross to suffer in our place the penalty of breaking His laws, so that when He returns to judge everyone according to whether they kept or broke His law, He will declare that we have been made right with Him.
o Those who trust Jesus like this still love God’s law-word and want to learn it and obey it, like David said in Psalm 119:101-103 “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not departed from Your judgments, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!” NKJV
o This is how David could say that he is in sync with God’s judgments and statutes even after he had broken several of them.
· In verse 23, David admits that he has iniquity; he calls it “my iniquity” (It is unfortunate that the NIV omitted the word “my.”), but in the context of v.22, David says that because he is tracking with God’s laws, he has sound integrity – wholeness, which is the main meaning of the Hebrew word tamim. The concept of being morally “blameless” and “upright” is a byproduct of the central meaning of being “whole” and “complete” with God.
o Once again, I do not think that David is claiming perfection. The verbs in the second half of verses 22 and 23 are in the Hebrew imperfect tense, which is not past tense, but would be better translated as habitual action[4], in other words, “It is not my habit to put away His statutes from me; it is my habit to keep myself from breaking those statutes. I fail often, but my failures to do so are not what characterize my life. God has provided a substitute to atone for my sin and has quickened me with His Spirit to love Him and obey His word, and that is what gives me integrity and blamelessness.”
· v.24 closes a chiasm which opened in v.20. Verses 20-24 all relate together. For instance, it is “because” there is “correspondence between me” [לְנֶגְדִּי] and “all His judgments” (v.22) that there is “correspondence” [לְנֶגֶד] between “His eyesight” and “my clean hands” (v.24).
o There is no way to hide sin and fake clean hands in front of the searching gaze of the LORD, “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes” (Jer. 16:17, NASB, cf. Psalm 5:5)
o And, by the same token, there is no way to keep our hands clean in God’s sight without a lifestyle of repentance from sin and active faith in His forgiveness. Isaiah put it like this: “Wash, make yourselves clean, cause the evil of your deeds to turn away from before my eyes; cease the evil. Learn the good, pursue justice, straighten out oppression; judge for the orphan; contend for the widow! Please move and let us reason,” says Jehovah, “Though your sins are like the scarlet, like the snow they will be whitened, Though bloody, like the crimson, like the wool they will become.” (Isa. 1:16-18, NAW) Actually doing justice and mercy and good deeds are part and parcel of a life that is clean and forgiven of sin. One doesn’t exist without the other.
20 Yahweh will deal with me according to my righteousness;
He will make a return to me according to [the] cleanness of my hands.
21 For I kept the ways of Yahweh,
and I was not detached from my God.
22 For all His judgments correspond with me,
and I do not cause His statutory-laws to be removed from me.
23 So I have integrity with Him
and I keep myself from my iniquity.
24 And Yahweh has made a return to me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands corresponding to His eyes.
· In v. 25, David says that God acts in a covenantally-faithful[5] manner, showing mercy and faithfulness when humans are “godly/merciful/kind/faithful” to His covenant.
· Likewise, God shows “integrity/blamelessness/uprightness” with those who mirror that character trait of His as well.
· Suppose I made a tuning fork designed to vibrate at the rate of 440 vibrations per second and then I were to vibrate my vocal chords at the rate of 440 vibrations per second while holding that tuning fork next to my mouth. What would happen to that tuning fork? It would start giving off the same pitch that I was humming, right? Now say you walk into the room and observe that the tuning fork and I are both emitting the same pitch. Can you properly conclude that the tuning fork caused me to start humming that pitch? No, of course not; I was the one that made it make that pitch. Now, what if I were to drop that tuning fork so that it got chipped and bent and was no longer able to vibrate at 440 Hertz. How much time would I bother to spend humming A-440 around a tuning fork that doesn’t do A-440? Not much, right? But a science geek and musician could spend quite a long time humming A-440 around a good A-440 tuning fork. It’s just fun when something (or somebody) responds resonantly to you, isn’t it? Once again, analogies aren’t a perfect way to express the things of God, but that’s my illustration for the principle that David brings out here in verses 25-26.
· First God has to regenerate us so that we will resonate with His character traits, but once He does so – once He has a responsive person in his hands that gives off mercy and integrity and purity when He beams his mercy and integrity and purity at you, it is a joy to Him to see the things He delights in, reflected back from a person who responds in like manner to Him. He’ll spend hours humming that pitch with you!
· The Passive form of the Hebrew participle[6] translated “pure” indicates that this person with whom God resonates refined purity in all its brightness, didn’t start out pure; he has (passively) been purified, and only then does he see God’s purity.
· After three positive character qualities, the fourth one in verse 26 really stands out because it is a negative quality: “crooked/devious/froward.[7]”
o Synonyms for this word in the Bible include “evil” (רע), “perverse” (תהפכות), “off-track” (נלוזים) (Prov. 2:12-15), “corrupted” (שׁחת, Deut. 32:5), and “perverted” (נהפך, Prov. 17:20), and crookedness is contrasted in the Bible with “righteousness” (צדק, Prov. 8:8) and “integrity” (תמימ, Prov. 11:20), which are opposites.
o So how does God show Himself “shrewd/astute/tortuous/forward/convoluted” with those who have bent and twisted His law in rebellion against Him? The book of Job explains: “He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them. They meet with darkness in the daytime, And grope at noontime as in the night.” (Job 5:11-14 NKJV, Eliphaz speaking, cf. Romans 1:28) In other words, wicked people will be surprised after thinking they would be better off disobeying God, because the opposite of what they expect comes to pass. God causes their rebellion to work against them, and, contrary to the expectations of the wicked who are in power, it is the lowly who obey God who end up getting blessed while the smart and rich and powerful who disobey God get a raw deal. God will “wrestle” back and surprise them with outcomes they didn’t expect, and they will come out hurting and shaking their heads saying, “God was smarter than me.[8]”
o Anne Besant is one of those people who is going to be shaking their heads one day. In her book The Masters, she wrote that, “[All] Men, in the long course of evolution, reach the Christ state... [Jesus is just] one of the ‘Sons of God’ who have reached the final goal of humanity.” She and many other humanists are going to discover to their dismay that the Son of God whom they reduced in their minds to just another man is way bigger and more powerful and more holy than they had ever dreamed, and that He is terribly insulted by what they have said and thought about Him, and that He wants to punish them terribly for their insults.
o “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.... when He rises up to terrify the earth.” (Isa. 2:17, NAW)
· But for the grace of God to change our hearts, any one of us could be that crooked person. It is a warning to us all to recognize how thin the line is between the redeemed and the unregenerate, between those who experience God’s mercy and those who experience God’s torture.
o Will you treasure as precious God’s mercy and faithfulness, the integrity of His word, and the purity from sin, or will you be like a broken, crooked tuning fork that will never resonate with the right pitch anymore because you don’t want God to tell you what to do? God will not be mocked by hypocrisy and rebellion. Only those who embrace His character qualities of faithfulness and integrity, and who want to be purified from traits that are out-of-keeping with His character will enjoy the mercies and wholeness and brilliance of God.
o On the day of his Olympic race in 1924, Eric Liddel was greeted in a special way by a foreigner on the track. This other man was impressed that Eric had refused the honor of running the 100 meter race – the distance he was best at – because the race was held on Sunday and he wanted to honor God by keeping the Lord’s Day holy. In God’s providence, the Olympic officials found a way to slot Eric for the 400 meter race – four times longer than he had trained to compete in, but since the race was not on a Sunday, Eric agreed to enter that race. The movie Chariots of Fire portrays Eric as he geared himself up mentally for this race and planted his feet at the starting line. An American runner came up to him and handed him a piece of paper with a Bible verse on it, 1Samuel 2:30c “...those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed...” God honored Eric that day with the gold medal, at least in part because he was living his life to honor God with righteousness, faithfulness, and integrity.
o Brothers and sisters, let us actively participate in the great salvation God has given us not only by calling upon Him for salvation, but also by maintaining a right attitude toward God’s law, cherishing righteousness and obedience to our Lord.
A. I was saved because:
B. I was saved for good reasons: (vs. 43-50)
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PSALM 18 |
NAW |
KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (17) |
Brenton |
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יז יִשְׁלַח מִמָּרוֹם יִקָּחֵנִי יַמְשֵׁנִי מִמַּיִם רַבִּים. |
16 He will send from on high; He will take me; He will pull[9] me out of deep water. |
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. |
16 He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. |
16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. |
16 He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. |
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. |
16 ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐξ ὕψους καὶ ἔλαβέν με, προσελάβετό με ἐξ ὑδάτων πολλῶν. |
16 He sent from on high and took me, he drew me to himself out of many waters. |
|
יח יַצִּילֵנִי מֵאֹיְבִי עָז וּמִשֹּׂנְאַי כִּי אָמְצוּ מִמֶּנִּי. |
17 He will cause to deliver me from my strong enemy and from the ones who hate me because they were stronger than me[10]. |
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. |
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, For they were too strong for me. |
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. |
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. |
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from |
17 ῥύσεταί με ἐξ ἐχθρ |
17 He will deliver me from my mighty enem |
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PSALM 18 |
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KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (17) |
Brenton |
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יְקַדְּמוּנִי בְיוֹם אֵידִי וַיְהִי יְהוָה [12]לְמִשְׁעָן לִי. |
18 They will confront[13] me in my day of calamity, but Yahweh will be [there] for support for me. |
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. |
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the LORD was my support. |
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. |
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the LORD was my stay. |
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. |
18 προέφθασάν με ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κακώσεώς μου, καὶ ἐγένετο κύριος ἀντιστήριγμά μου |
18 They prevented me in the day of mine affliction: but the Lord was my stay against them. |
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כ וַיּוֹצִיאֵנִי לַמֶּרְחָב[14] יְחַלְּצֵנִי כִּי חָפֵץ בִּי. |
19 So He will bring me out to [where there is] room; He will snatch me away because He delights in me. |
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. |
19 He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me. |
19 X He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. |
19 He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. |
19 X He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. |
19 καὶ ἐξήγαγέν με εἰς πλατυσμόν, ῥύσεταί με, ὅτι ἠθέλησέν με. (ῥύσεταί με ἐξ ἐχθρῶν μου δυνατῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν μισούντων με.) |
19 And he brought me out into a wide place: he will deliver me, because he has pleasure in me. |
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כא יִגְמְלֵנִי[15] יְהוָה כְּצִדְקִי כְּבֹר[16] יָדַי יָשִׁיב לִי[17]. |
20 Yahweh will deal with me according to my righteousness; He will make a return to me according to [the] cleanness of my hands. |
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. |
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. |
20 The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. |
20 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. |
20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. |
20 καὶ ἀνταποδώσει μοι κύριος κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου καὶ κατὰ τὴν καθαριότητα τῶν χειρῶν μου ἀνταποδώσει μοι, |
20 And the Lord will recompense me according to my righteousness; even according to the purity of my hands will he recompense me. |
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כב כִּי שָׁמַרְתִּי דַּרְכֵי יְהוָה וְלֹא רָשַׁעְתִּי מֵאֱלֹהָי. |
21 For I kept the ways of Yahweh, and I was not detached from my God. |
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. |
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not wickedly departed from my God. |
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. |
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not wickedly departed from my God. |
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God. |
21 ὅτι ἐφύλαξα τὰς ὁδοὺς κυρίου καὶ οὐκ ἠσέβησα ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ μου, |
21 For I have kept the way of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. |
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כִּי כָל מִשְׁפָּטָיו לְנֶגְדִּי וְחֻקֹּתָיו לֹא אָסִיר מֶנִּי[18]. |
22 For all His judgments correspond[19] with me, and I do not cause His statutory-laws to be removed from me. |
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. |
22 For all His judgments were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. |
22 For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. |
22 For all His ordinances were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. |
22 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. |
22 ὅτι πάντα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιόν μου, καὶ τὰ δικαιώματα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπέστησα ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ. |
22 For all his judgments were before me, and his ordinances departed not from me. |
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וָאֱהִי תָמִים עִמּוֹ וָאֶשְׁתַּמֵּר מֵעֲוֹנִי. |
23 So I have integrity with Him and I keep myself from my iniquity. |
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. |
I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. |
23 I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. |
I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. |
23 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from X sin. |
23 καὶ ἔσομαι ἄμωμος μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ καὶ φυλάξομαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας μου. |
& I shall be blameless with hem, and shall keep myself from mine iniquity. |
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כה וַיָּשֶׁב יְהוָה לִי כְצִדְקִי כְּבֹר [20]יָדַי לְנֶגֶד עֵינָיו. |
24 And Yahweh has made a return to me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands corresponding to His eyes. |
Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. |
24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight. |
24 So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. |
24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. |
24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. |
24 καὶ ἀνταποδώσει μοι κύριος κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου καὶ κατὰ τὴν καθαριότητα· τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐνώπιον τῶν ὀ φθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ. |
24 And the Lord shall[21] recompense me according to my righteousness, and according to the purity of my hands before his eyes. |
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PSALM 18 |
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KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (17) |
Brenton |
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כו עִם חָסִיד תִּתְחַסָּד עִם גְּבַר תָּמִים תִּתַּמָּם. |
25 With one who is godly, You will be godly; with a mortal[22] of integrity, You will show integrity |
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; |
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; |
25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; |
25 With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; |
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, |
25 μετὰ ὁσίου ὁσιωθήσῃ [καὶ] μετὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀθῴου ἀθῷος ἔσῃ |
25 With the holy thou wilt be holy; [and] with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent. |
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כז עִם נָבָר תִּתְבָּרָר וְעִם עִקֵּשׁ תִּתְפַּתָּל. |
26 With one who is purified You will show Yourself pure, yet with one who is crooked You will show yourself convoluted. |
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. |
26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. |
26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. |
26 With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute. |
26 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd. |
26 καὶ μετὰ ἐκλεκτοῦ ἐκλεκτὸς ἔσῃ καὶ μετὰ στρεβλοῦ διαστρέψεις. |
26 And with the [choice] man thou wilt be choice; and with the perverse thou wilt shew frowardness. |
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כִּי אַתָּה[23] עַם עָנִי תוֹשִׁיעַ וְעֵינַיִם רָמוֹת תַּשְׁפִּיל. |
27 For You Yourself will cause to save a lowly people, but haughty eyes[24] you will bring low. |
27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. |
27 For You will save the humble people, But will bring down haughty looks. |
27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. |
27 For You save an afflicted people, But haughty eyes You abase. |
27 You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. |
27 ὅτι σὺ λαὸν ταπεινὸν σώσεις καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑπερηφάνων ταπεινώσεις. |
27 For thou wilt save the lowly people, and wilt humble the eyes of the proud. |
[1] 1-first-person verbs of the first six verses (“I will love... I will take refuge... I will call... I was overwhelmed... I cried out for help”), then the next 14 verses down to v.20 are organized around third-person action verbs (“The earth trembled... He parted the heavens... He rode the cherub... He thundered... He shot lightenings... He delivered me...”)
[2] It’s also a Hebrew work for “soap”
[3] The second verb is the same root as the word for “wicked” although, as I explained in my notes on Psalm 1, the root meaning has to do with “looseness/being detached/unfaithful to covenantal commitments,” and so many English versions combine both ideas with the translation “wickedly departed.”
[4] Keil & Delitzsch also thought as much.
[5] Notice the definition for the khesid in terms of what he does in Deut. 33:8 Of Levi he [Moses] said, "Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man, Whom You proved genuine at Massah… For they observed Your word and kept Your covenant. They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob, And Your law to Israel. They shall put incense before You, And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.”
[6] I think this is the only occurrence of barar in the Niphal stem in the Bible. It seems quite reasonable to render it as a passive, as the ESV does. Delitzsch, however defends the reflexive interpretation of the Niphal from 1 John 3:3 – whoever has this hope “purifies himself just as He is pure.” (“Chosen” is also given as a secondary meaning gloss in Brown, Driver, and Briggs’ Hebrew-English Lexicon, and the Septuagint translated it that way.)
[7] The word describing what God does with crooked people is different from the word “crooked” (perhaps to signify that God is not evil, so He does not exactly resonate with evil people), but nevertheless, the two Hebrew words are often found together as synonyms.
[8] Verse 27 recalls the way this theme of the reversal of the positions of the powerful wicked and the lowly faithful in the Psalms of justice like Psalms 9:18; 10:2,9; 12:5; 14:6, etc. (cf. Job 22:29 & 1 Sam. 2:7, Isa. 2:11-17)
[9] cf. Exodus 2:10, where Moses’ name is explained as “the one drawn out of the water” is the only other incidence of this verb in the O.T.
[10] cf. Psalm 142:6
[11] Syriac and Targum translations also pluralize this Hebrew singular, perhaps to match the plural in v. 1?
[12] The Lamed prefix does not appear in 2 Sam 22. Isa. 3:1 is the only other instance of this verb in the O.T.
[13] cf. same verb in v5b “...deathly noose-snares confronted me.”
[14] In the rest of the Psalms it’s the opposite of sgr “closed” (Ps. 31:8) and of tsr “tight spot” (Ps. 118:5) – which is exactly where David said he was at the beginning of v.6. This ‘snatching out’ matches the prayer in Ps. 6:4 (“Return, Yahweh! Snatch away my soul; save me because of Your lovingkindness”), and is synonymous to msh in v.16 of this Psalm (18) “He drew me out of deep water.”
[15] cf. 7:4 “If I have repaid evil” and 13:6 “The Lord has dealt bountifully with me”
[16] The Cairo manuscript is one of a few that render כבר “cleanness” as כבד “holiness” an understandably-easy copy error due to the similarity of the letters resh and daleth. The amount of cognate-similarity in Hebrew, however, generally prevents this kind of copy error from resulting in untrue statements.
[17] cf. Hosea 12:14 yashiv lo and Gen. 50:15 yashiv nu – the only parallel uses in the OT clearly picture payback
[18] The wording of 2 Sam 22:23 is different but synonymous, “I did not turn away from them.”
[19] In v.21 both the verbs are perfect/past tense, but in vs. 22-23, the first verb is an understood verb of being which I interpret as present tense, followed by an imperfect verb which I interpret as habitual action. I don’t see why most English versions translate it all in past tense. The LXX is not consistent because it translates the verbs of v. 22 as Aorist and the verbs of 23 as Future, and the NIV is also not consistent because it translates the understood verb of being in 22 as present (which I think is the best translation) but then it translates the understood verb of being in v.23 as past tense.
[20] This verse recaps the phrases from v.20 as well as the word “leneged” from v.22. 2 Sam 22:25 omits the word “hand.”
[21] The Vulgate agrees with the LXX here in a future-tense interpretation of this imperfect Hebrew verb, but all the English versions translated it past tense. The Vulgate agreed with the English versions (contrary to me and some of the LXX) in placing the previous verses in past tense.
[22] In the Psalms, the gbr seems to be consistently used as the opposite of God (Ps. 128:4, 89:48, 37:23), although it is also used in other books to distinguish a male from a female.
[23] 2 Sam 22:28 omits this emphatic form of the subject and rewords the end of the verse ועיניך על רמים “and your eyes are upon the proud.”
[24] The first of the things God hates in Prov. 6:17.