Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 1 February 2015
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.
28 Because You Yourself cause my lamp to beam; Yahweh my God causes my darkness to glimmer.
29 For with You I will rush a battalion, and with my God I will jump a parapet.
30
This God has integrity in His ways; the speech of Yahweh is pure.
He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.
31 Because who is God apart from Yahweh alone? And who is a landmark-rock except our God!
32 This God really equips me with resource[s] and gives integrity to my way,
33 making my feet even like the deer. And he causes me to stand upon my high places,
34 training my hands for the battle. And my arms will bend a bow of bronze.
35 You
also give me the shield of Your salvation.
With Your right hand You sustain me, and Your lowliness makes me great.
36 You lengthened my stride under me and my ankles will not sprain.
37 I hunt down my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until their defeat.
38 I blast a hole through them and they are not able to rise up; they lie prostrate under my feet.
39 So
You really equip me with resource[s] for the battle;
You cause him who rises up against me to kneel under me.
40 And
as for my enemies You give to me [their bowed] neck,
and as for those who hate me, I annihilate them.
41 They will holler but there will not be a savior, to Yahweh but He will not answer.
42 So I pulverized them like dust upon the face of the wind; I emptied them like the mud of the streets
· In this sermon series on Psalm 18, I am offering a Biblical balance to the Reformed and evangelical emphasis on God’s action which saves us. In Psalm 18 we see that the one who is saved also does things.
o Yes we begin dead in our transgressions and unable to do anything to save ourselves, so we rightfully claim no credit for our salvation – we give all the glory to God,
o yet we also recognize that those who are made alive in Christ Jesus, born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit (whatever theological term you want to use for it) God commands and empowers to do certain things in the application of our salvation, and so we are charactized with certain actions.
o The first of these actions I covered two weeks ago: We call out to God for deliverance.
o The second action which I introduced last week was that We live righteously. That is, we respond to the righteousness and authority of God by valuing God’s law and walking in obedience to it as the general theme of our life, and even when we fall into sin, we step back into God’s righteousness because we value being right with God.
o The third action I want to introduce is related: We fight and win over the enemies of God.
· It started when he was a shepherd boy in the hill country of Judea around Bethlehem, killing bears and lions that threatened his flock of sheep.
· Then there was his adolescent monomachy with the giant Goliath in the wars against the neighbouring Philistines.
· The fame he earned from that eventually got him crosswise with King Saul, resulting in a period of self-defense warfare tactics against an enemy that it was not ethical to actually kill.
· Eventually, however, David became king, and then he was able to really lead his nation in offensive warfare against all the nations that were trying to encroach upon his country.
· Then his sons started fighting over who would get to be king next, plunging David into the middle of a civil war which he only barely managed to win.
· Warfare was David’s life, and this section of the Psalm speaks of this kind of action.
· תָּאִיר The Hebrew verb for “light” (or “keep burning” in the NIV) is used in the O.T. to describe how God created the sun to give light (Gen. 1:17), how God set a pillar of fire in the desert to give light to the children of Israel (Ps. 105:39), and how God provides knowledge and grace into the darkness of ignorance and sin (Ps. 118:27; 119:130). In the Bible, God is the source of light, and that is emphasized in the Hebrew text by a doubling of the subject “You Yourself” which, unfortunately is not brought out in most English translations. One thing that this statement emphasizes is that despite the actions of David, God is the main actor; don’t loose sight of the fact that God is our savior and the one to keep our eyes on.
· Now in the Bible, from the very beginning of the use of the word “lamp,” it was a symbol for living existence (e.g. Ex. 37:23). As Proverbs 20:27 put it, “a man’s soul is a lamp of God.”
o Each of the twelve lamps in the temple represented a tribe of Israelites living for the glory of the Lord,
o and in the Book of Revelation, each lamp represents a regional church.
o To have your lamp put out meant that your tribe (or your church) had died out, gone extinct, or perhaps been assimilated into another tribe so that it had no more living existence as a distinct entity (Rev. 2:5).
o The lamp burning also had a special meaning for David. According to the sequence of events in 2 Sam., just before David wrote this Psalm, Abishai had told him that he was so old that he shouldn’t go out to war anymore lest he die and “extinguish the lamp of Israel” (2 Sam. 21:17). Later on in the prophecy of Ahijah in 1 Kings 11:36, he speaks of David’s descendents reigning over Israel as David’s “lamp” being kept burning[1] (cf. 2 Kings 8:19).
· I see this testimony in v.28 as the answer to David’s anguished prayer in Psalm 13:3-4 “...answer me, Yahweh my God, cause there to be light toward my eyes, otherwise I will sleep the [sleep of] death. Otherwise my enemy will say, ‘I have bested him!’ My adversaries will rejoice that I am overthrown.” (cf. Job 33:30)
· Remember v.6, “I call... He heeds.” Grammatically, this causal phrase in v.28 seems intended as legal testimony to back up his thesis in v.25 “With a man of integrity God shows integrity... for see, He causes my lamp to beam!”
· Now notice that David recognizes that his natural state is the darkness of death and that it is the Lord who had given him the spark of life, but I hope I am not stretching the metaphor too far to observe that a good lamp participates with the match and the fuel to burn brightly:
o it has the integrity to hold the oil and not let it leak out,
o it draws the oil up the wick,
o it holds the flame up for all to see,
o and it offers its wick to be consumed along with the oil in order to give light.
o I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to place ourselves in that metaphor. Are you willing to walk with integrity, to hold God’s spirit, to draw from God’s spirit, to hold God’s light for all to see, and even to use yourself up in that process?
o God enables us to have the oil of the Holy Spirit and the light of eternal life and the Gospel in the first place, but as His vessels, we should follow Jesus’ command, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35, NKJV).
· David says he could advance against a troop. To give a sense of perspective, 2 Chron. 25:13 describes a troop that contained 100,000 soldiers. Troops probably weren’t always that big, but they were still an intimidating number of warriors. To run into the middle of a sizeable band of warriors with nothing but a hand weapon would be unthinkable, yet David did it.
· Now he had 600 men in his own troop, but he was a bit uncertain as to whether he should attack the Amalekite army in 1 Samuel 30. Abiathar the priest, however, told David to go for it because God was with him, so with faith in God’s power to deliver, David chased after the Amalekite army. After a while, 200 of David’s men bagged out on him, but he kept after the Amalekites with the 400 men he had left. When they finally reached the Amalekite troops, there were so many, it says they were spread out all over the land, but David knew God was with him, so he didn’t hesitate to run right into them, and God gave him an amazing victory. And David uses a future tense verb here – even as an old man he says, “I could do it again with God by my side!”
· And he also claims that God could help him vault a city wall like a deer jumps a barbed-wire fence. Most of the occurrences of this word “leap” outside of this Psalm are referring to stags jumping (Song of Solomon 2:8; Isaiah 35:6). Have you ever seen one do that? It’s like their hind legs are made of springs – Boing and they’re over it, still running like the wind. The Caananite cities around David’s time were built with a big wall surrounding them, so when they attacked these towns, if they couldn’t knock a hole in the defensive ramparts, they had to get over them in order to conquer. [Show pictures on PowerPoint slide.]
· Another way this could possibly be interpreted since we don’t have any account of David actually jumping over any city walls in the Bible, is that there was actually a town named “wall” (or “Shur” in Hebrew) on the southern extremity of Israel that David and his men did conquer. It was kind-of the last stop south of Israel before you got to Egypt, so there is a possibility that David is saying that God could give him the ability to leap over Shur and conquer Egypt.
· Whatever the specific historical references are, David frames himself as an active participant in warfare while giving the glory to God. David didn’t say, “Oh dear, the Philistines say I’m not qualified to fight, and the Amalekites captured my wife and children; I’m just going to sit down and cry.” No, he ran, he jumped, he swung weapons at real enemies until he had won the day. And he didn’t stop running when he got tired (like the 200 men at the brook Besor), and he didn’t stop fighting until every last enemy was killed. He couldn’t afford to leave even one alive to mobilize any more enemies against him.
1. God and His ways (that is His law[2]) are characterized by integrity/wholeness/soundness/faultlessness, and He shares this character trait out with those who love Him, v. 25 “with a man of integrity, you will show integrity,” so that’s why David could say earlier in v.23, “I have integrity/ blamelessness...”
2. Secondly, what God has said and recorded in the Bible is pure/tried/proven/true/flawless. The root of the Hebrew word tserufah here is the same as the smelting furnace in Psalm 12:6 that refines gold or silver until it is pure: “The sayings (אמרות) of Yahweh are sayings of purity – silver, smelted (צרוף) in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times.” There is no error or untruth in what God says. He has integrity; His way is perfect.
3. The third thing that v.30 asserts flows into personal application. Only a God who has no evil in Him – and who sends forth no evil from Him – can truly protect those who take refuge in Him to protect them from evil.
o Part of being a good soldier is knowing where safety is and not being fooled by false security, and when it is not time to fight – when it’s time to take cover, actually ducking under cover instead of foolishly exposing yourself to danger.
o In your spiritual life, are you ducking into the cover of the solid rock of God’s word to let it fill you with truth before you step into the spiritual warfare of everyday life and all the lies that it hurls at you? Failure to do this could have painful consequences. Part of your spiritual warfare is taking the time to secure that belt of truth before entering the fray. Here is a case where sitting on your hands for a time (if that’s what it takes to sit still and listen to God) is actually a strategic warfare measure!
· v.31 completes the thought with an argument that God can provide perfection and refuge because He’s the only one high enough to be God and the only God transcendent enough to provide refuge from evil. (The Hebrew word for God here, elohim, has to do with being elevated.)
1. God, who Himself is “armed/girded with strength/resources” shares with David that with which He Himself is equipped. The Hebrew wording in v.32 and 39 makes me think of strapping on a belt with a couple of .45 revolvers holstered in it and hundreds of bullets tucked into the belt all around.
2. But with the power comes a gift of moral character to use that force blamelessly, with integrity, as a king should, using the power of the sword which God gives to civil magistrates to punish evil, not abusing people with his power like a despot.
3. vs. 33 speaks of God making David’s feet like the feet of deer (cf. Hab. 3:19) probably connoting the ability to move quickly to safety. Now, when you come up on a deer or mountain goat in the wild, they don’t say, “Hey Mr. Human, I’ve got these special hooves that God gave me to be great at climbing rocks, but I’m just going to lie here and let you eat me.” No, they use those hooves and jet up a cliff face and disappear to safety.
4. God causes David to stand on David’s high places. Whether the high places are battlefields like the high places on which Saul and Jonathan were slain (2Sam. 1:19, 25) where David would be victorious and remain standing after the battle, or whether they are safe places high in the mountains where David took refuge from Saul, or whether they are the high places where gods were worshipped, David did the fighting, David did the climbing, but He gives God the credit for bringing him to triumph and to safety.
5. God trains David’s hands for war, whether gaining accuracy in target-practice with his slingshot or spear or learning the moves to parry and strike with a sword. David will use those hands trained by God to fight enemies and kill them.
6. Bronze is used in the Bible to indicate something extraordinarily hard (cf. Job 40:18, Isa. 48:4, Micah 4:13). Whether this is a compound bow or a special longbow with a super- heavy draw, David will use it in battle and will attribute his strength to be able to use it to God.
7. v.35, God gives David a shield which is God’s salvation, perhaps referring to Jesus Himself or perhaps to the shield of faith which Ephesians 6:16 tells Christians to take up. David fought using the shield God provided.
8. God also sustained David. Why with His right hand? At least half of the 12 instances of the word translated “sustain/supported/upholds” have to do with feeding with food. The right hand in that culture was the hand that you use when you are giving a gift, so I think the picture here is of God as the host of a meal, handing food to David. Food which David eats, by the way.
9. And the end of v.35 has a marvelous statement about the “lowliness/gentleness” of God (which is the same root as the word for “humble/afflicted/lowly” which describes the kind of people God saves in v.27). By humbly condescending to communicate and provide atonement for us, God saves us and brings us to the heights of His glory.
10. and in v.36, David gives glory to God for opening up margin for him (cf. Ps. 4:1) so that he can walk with longer steps, not having to worry about obstacles that might sprain his ankles. Once again we have a picture of David doing something – striding – yet doing it with God’s help and blessing.
11. In v. 39, David is fighting in battle, but he gives the glory to God for subduing the rebels.
12. In v.40 he is annihilating enemies, but says it was God who made them vulnerable.
· David pursued his enemies with perseverance until they were all gone.
· Verse 38 indicates that there were people David killed by thrusting them through with an arrow or a spear.
· And in v.42, the enemy is pictured as fleeing before him like dust in the wind or being disposed of like you’d scrape mud off your shoes before entering your house. David worked hard for that victory.
· God has called some of you to apply it literally as soldiers. Is war God’s will for you? Is God with you? Then you too can advance against a troop with confidence and go further than anyone might think possible and win complete victory in your mission and give all the glory to God. Purposefully draw from God’s power & God’s justice.
· For all of us, including the soldiers, we also have spiritual enemies which we must engage. Anger, Covetousness, Lust, Pride, Dishonesty, Anxiety...
o Draw on God’s gift of integrity.
o Don’t stop until you have totally annihilated that sin.
· Are there systems of sin which are holding people in bondage that you can attack (abortion, human trafficking, pornography)
· Do you know who God’s enemies are? It’s not your brothers and sisters in the church; it’s not the pastor or the elders, it’s not the people that are wallowing in disgusting sin!
· Do you know where your safe place is? It’s the word of God. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.
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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כו עִם חָסִיד תִּתְחַסָּד עִם גְּבַר תָּמִים תִּתַּמָּם. |
25 With one who is godly, You will be godly; with a mortal[3] 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[4] עַם עָנִי תוֹשִׁיעַ וְעֵינַיִם רָמוֹת תַּשְׁפִּיל. |
27 For You Yourself will cause to save a lowly people, but haughty eyes 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 X 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. |
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כִּי אַתָּה תָּאִיר[5] נֵרִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהַי יַגִּיהַּ חָשְׁכִּי. |
28 Because You Yourself cause my lamp to beam; Yahweh my God causes my darkness to glimmer. |
28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. |
28 For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. |
28 For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness. |
28 For You light my lamp; The LORD my God illumines my darkness. |
28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. |
28 ὅτι σὺ φωτιεῖς λύχνον μου, κύριε· ὁ θεός μου, φωτι |
28 For thou, O Lord, wilt light my lamp:
my God, |
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29 For with You I will rush a battalion, and with my God I will jump a parapet[7]. |
29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. |
29 For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall. |
29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. |
29 For by You I can run upon a troop; And by my God I can leap over a wall. |
29 With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. |
29 ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ῥυσ |
29 For by thee shall I |
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הָאֵל תָּמִים דַּרְכּוֹ אִמְרַת יְהוָה צְרוּפָה מָגֵן[8] הוּא לְכֹל הַחֹסִים בּוֹ. |
30 This God has integrity in His ways; the speech of Yahweh is pure. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him. |
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. |
30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. |
30 This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. |
30 As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. |
30 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. |
30ὁ θεός |
As for my God, his way is perfect: the oracles of the Lord are tried in the fire; he is a protector of all them that hope in him. |
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כִּי מִי אֱלוֹהַּ[9] מִבַּלְעֲדֵי יְהוָה וּמִי צוּר[10] זוּלָתִי אֱלֹהֵינוּ. |
31 Because who is God apart from Yahweh alone?[11] And who is a landmark-rock except our God! |
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? |
31 For who is God, except the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? |
31 For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?-- |
31 For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God, |
31 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? |
31 ὅτι τίς θεὸς πλὴν τοῦ κυρίου; καὶ τίς θεὸς πλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν; |
31 For who is God but the Lord? and who is a God except our God? |
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PSALM 18 |
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KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (17) |
Brenton |
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הָאֵל הַמְאַזְּרֵנִי[12] חָיִל וַיִּתֵּן תָּמִים דַּרְכִּי. |
32 This God really equips me with resource[s] and gives integrity to my way, |
32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. |
32 It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. |
32 the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. |
32 The God who girds me with strength And makes my way blameless? |
32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. |
32 ὁ θεὸς ὁ περιζωννύων με δύναμιν καὶ ἔθετο ἄμωμον τὴν ὁδόν μου, |
32 It is God that girds me with strength, and has made my way blameless: |
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לד מְשַׁוֶּה רַגְלַי כָּאַיָּלוֹת וְעַל בָּמֹתַי יַעֲמִידֵנִי. |
33 making my feet even like the deer. And he causes me to stand upon my high places, |
33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. |
33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. |
33 He made my feet like the [feet of] a deer and set me secure on the heights. |
33 He makes my feet like hinds' feet, And sets me upon my high places. |
33 He makes my feet like the [feet of] a deer; he enables me to stand on the[13] heights. |
33 ὁ καταρτιζόμενος τοὺς πόδας μου ὡς ἐλάφου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ X ἱστῶν με, |
33 who strengthens my feet as hart's feet, and sets me upon X high places. |
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לה מְלַמֵּד יָדַי לַמִּלְחָמָה וְנִחֲתָה קֶשֶׁת נְחוּשָׁה זְרוֹעֹתָי. |
34 training my hands for the battle. And my arms will bend a bow of bronze, |
34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. |
34 He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. |
34 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. |
34 He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. |
34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. |
34 διδάσκων χεῖράς μου εἰς πόλεμον καὶ |
34 He instructs my hands for war: and |
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לו וַתִּתֶּן לִי מָגֵן יִשְׁעֶךָ וִימִינְךָ תִסְעָדֵנִי[14] וְעַנְוַתְךָ תַרְבֵּנִי. |
35 You also give me the shield of Your salvation. With Your right hand You sustain me, and Your lowliness makes me great. |
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. |
35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great. |
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. |
35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand upholds me; And Your gentleness makes me great. |
35 You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains
me; |
35 καὶ ἔδωκάς μοι ὑπερασπισμὸν σωτηρίας |
35 And thou hast made me secure in |
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לז תַּרְחִיב צַעֲדִי תַחְתָּי וְלֹא מָעֲדוּ קַרְסֻלָּי. |
36 You lengthened my stride under me and my ankles will not sprain. |
36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. |
36 You enlarged my path under me, So my feet did not slip. |
36 You |
36 You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped. |
36 You broaden |
36 ἐπλάτυνας τὰ διαβήματά μου ὑποκάτω μου, καὶ οὐκ ἠσθένησαν τὰ ἴχνη μου. |
36 Thou has made room for my goings under me, and my footsteps did not fail. |
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לח אֶרְדּוֹף אוֹיְבַי וְאַשִּׂיגֵם[15] וְלֹא אָשׁוּב עַד כַּלּוֹתָם. |
37 I hunt down my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until their defeat. |
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. |
37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. |
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed. |
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed. |
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. |
37 καταδιώξω τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου καὶ καταλήμψομαι αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐκ ἀποστραφήσομαι, ἕως ἂν ἐκλίπωσιν· |
37 I will pursue mine enemies, and overtake them; and I will not turn back until they are consumed. |
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לט אֶמְחָצֵם[16] וְלֹא יֻכְלוּ קוּם יִפְּלוּ תַּחַת רַגְלָי. |
38 I blast a hole through them and they are not able to rise up; they lie prostrate[17] under my feet. |
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. |
38 I have wounded them, So that they could not rise; They have fallen under my feet. |
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. |
38 I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; They fell under my feet. |
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. |
38 ἐκθλίψω αὐτούς, καὶ οὐ μὴ δύνωνται στῆναι, πεσοῦνται ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας μου. |
38 I will dash them to pieces and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my feet. |
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PSALM 18 |
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KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX (17) |
Brenton |
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מ וַתְּאַזְּרֵנִי[18] חַיִל לַמִּלְחָמָה תַּכְרִיעַ קָמַי תַּחְתָּי. |
39 So You really equip me with resource[s] for the battle; You cause him who rises up against me to kneel[19] under me. |
39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle:
thou hast subdued under me |
39 For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You
have subdued under me |
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made |
39 For You have girded me with strength for X battle; You
have subdued under me |
39 X You armed me with strength for X battle; you
made my |
39 καὶ περιέζωσάς με δύναμιν εἰς X πόλεμον, συνεπόδισας |
39 For thou hast girded me with strength
for war: thou hast beaten down under me |
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מא וְאֹיְבַי נָתַתָּה לִּי עֹרֶף[20] וּמְשַׂנְאַי אַצְמִיתֵם. |
40 And as for my enemies You give to me [their bowed] neck, and as for those who hate me, I annihilate them. |
40 Thou hast also given me the neck[s] of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. |
40 You have also given me the neck[s] of my enemies, So that I destroyed those who hated me. |
40 You |
40 You have also |
40 You |
40 καὶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου ἔδωκάς μοι νῶτον καὶ τοὺς μισοῦντάς με ἐξωλέθρευσα |
And thou has made mine enemies turn their backs before
me; and |
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מב יְשַׁוְּעוּ[21] וְאֵין מוֹשִׁיעַ עַל[22] יְהוָה וְלֹא עָנָם. |
41 They will holler but there will not be a savior, to Yahweh but He will not answer. |
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. |
41 They cried out, but there was none to save; Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them. |
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them. |
41 They cried for help, but there was none to save, Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them. |
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but he did not answer. |
41 ἐκέκραξαν, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ σῴζων, πρὸς κύριον, καὶ οὐκ εἰσήκουσεν αὐτῶν. |
41 They cried, but there was no deliverer: even to the Lord, but he hearkened not to them. |
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מג וְאֶשְׁחָקֵם כְּעָפָר עַל פְּנֵי רוּחַ[23] כְּטִיט חוּצוֹת אֲרִיקֵם[24]. |
42 So I pulverized them like dust upon the face of the wind; I emptied them like the mud of the streets |
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. |
42 Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind; I cast them out like dirt in the streets. |
42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets. |
42 Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind; I emptied them out as the mire of the streets. |
42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind; I poured them out like mud in the streets. |
42 καὶ λεπτυνῶ αὐτοὺς ὡς χοῦν κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου, ὡς πηλὸν πλατειῶν λεανῶ αὐτούς. |
42 I will grind them as the mud of the streets: and I will beat them small as dust before the wind. |
[1] The glimmering of light in the darkness in the second half of v.28 is a rarely-used Hebrew verb occurring only 4 times outside this Psalm, predictably in Job and Isaiah, and it is the same gleam we see in the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of death’s shadow, a glimmering light has arisen on them.” – The ultimate lamp of David is the Lord Jesus Christ!
[2] See Deut. 11:22 & Josh. 22:5 which define by parallelism God’s ways as God’s commands, the foremost of which is to love God.
[3] In the Psalms, the gbr seems to be consistently used as the opposite of God (Psa_128:4, 89:48, 37:23), although it is also used in other books to distinguish a male from a female.
[4] 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.”
[5] 2 Sam 22:29 omits this verb, reading “you are my lamp.”
[6] According to Brown, Driver, and Briggs, this verb also occurs in the Qal form, so this Piel form indicates an intense form of leaping.
[7] The Hebrew word “shur” seems to involve the concepts of travelling around and looking around which is exactly the meaning of a parapet – a place you can walk around to look out.
[8] cf. the same portable shield in v.2 and v. 35
[9] 2 Sam 22:32 uses a simpler form of this word (el) and substitutes a repeat of the word mibbal’adey for zulatiy, but the meaning is the same.
[10] cf. same word in v.2 & v.46
[11] If there be any doubt as to the answer of that question, Isaiah 43:11; 44:6,8; and 45:6,21 answer emphatically “there is none!”
[12] cf. v.39. 2 Sam 22:33 reads “God is my strength (מעוזי) and power and unleashes (ויתר) perfection in my path.
[13] The NIV expresses its preference for the LXX over the Hebrew by omitting the “my” as the Septuagint (and Jerome’s latin translations) did here and in 2 Sam 22, but it is in the Hebrew text in both places.
[14] Why all the English translations ignored the 2nd person marker on this verb and translated it 3rd person with “right hand” as the subject instead of “You” as the subject, I don’t know. This middle phrase is not found in 2 Sam 22:36
[15] 2 Sam 22:38 reads “and I destroyed them” ואשׁמידם
[16] Once again this is an imperfect verb with no vav consecutive, so with the LXX I diverged from the past tense of the other English translations. The action is that of an arrow in Num. 24:8, God’s punitive action against the loins of Levi’s enemies in Deut. 33:11, Jael’s tent-peg in Judges 5:26, a foot in blood in Psalm 68:23, and God laying His enemy open “from thigh to neck” Hab 3:13. 2 Sam 22:38 adds “And I devoured them” and substitutes a nfl verb for the ycl verb so that the second part reads “and they did not rise and they fell down” ( ולא יקומון ויפלו)
[17] Translating this word “fall” creates the mental picture of David somehow mowing people down by kicking his feet, but I interpreted this as a symbolic picture of David’s victory after the battle, where the loser lies prostrate at or under the winner’s foot – parallel in meaning to the second half of the next verse. Even those who could “rise up” are subdued by God!
[18] cf. v.32
[19] Literally “bend over.” An answer to the prayer in 17:13 “Please arise, Yahweh; please get in front of his face; bend him over...” and a foreshadowing of the Messianic triumph Isa 45:23b “to me every knee will bow; every tongue will swear.”
[20] Lit. “nape [of the neck]” In the first Biblical instance of this word (Gen. 49:8), it is in parallel with bowing down, which bends the neck and exposes the nape to the superior person in submission. I see no use of this word which demands the interpretation of turning one’s back in flight instead of bowing one’s neck, although the Biblical accounts seem to see the former leading inevitably to the latter, and thus some passages could be interpreted either way without harm. In favor of the interpretation of natan oreph as bowing would be the concept of a “stiff-necked” people (Ex. 32:9, 2Chr. 36:13, etc.) who rebelliously refuse bend their neck in a submissive bow. In 2 Chron 29:6 the parallelism requires the interpretation of giving the neck as turning your back in rebellion, another view of the nape of the neck, but with a totally different meaning than that of admission of defeat and submission.
[21] cf. 2 Sam. 22:42 ישׁעו “they looked around”
[22] 2 Sam 22:42 uses the synonym אל
[23] 2 Sam 22:43 reads with a slightly different figure of speech “like the dust of the earth” (כעפר ארץ)
[24] Instead of this one word 2 Sam 22:43 ends with “I stepped on them; I stamped-flat them” (אדקם ארקעם)