Psalm 18

​From the previous poem — Psalm 17 — to this one, about two weeks passed. The first week I did no writing at all. The second week, I wrote this. I was a little reluctant to even start because of its length of 50 verses. And, yes, I know there are two more psalms coming up that are even longer!

Due to its length, a few good lines were bound to be written.  And, I want to highlight a few of them — especially the third of these excerpts.

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​From His temple He heard my voice,
and my cry for His help reached His ears.
Then the earth shook and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains trembled;
they were shaken because He burned with anger.
Psalm 18:6b-7

​He heard my lone voice from his heavenly temple;
he hears with his ears every cry that I make.
The earth moved and shuddered, the mountaintops tremble​​;
God's anger has caused their foundations to shake.

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​He shot His arrows and scattered the foes;
He hurled lightning and routed them.
The channels of the sea appeared,
and the foundations of the world were exposed,
at Your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
Psalm 18:14-15

​He sent forth his arrows, men ran in commotion;
they fled from his lightning bolts hurled through the air.
The blast of your breath, LORD, uncovered the ocean;
rebuked, the foundations of earth were laid bare.​​

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​As for God, His way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
For who is God besides the LORD?
And who is the Rock except our God?
Psalm 18:30-31

​​For God's way is blameless; the LORD's word, perfection.
He shields and protects those who give him their trust.
Indeed, who is God but the LORD in reflection?
And who is the Rock but our God who is just?

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​These are the reasons I write: to be able to transform God's word into poetry. To take some consecutive lines of thought, originally written in Hebrew, translated to Greek, then eventually to the English language — to take those back-to-back verses and find a way to fit them into a fixed pattern of rhythm and rhyme for the glory of God.

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Psalm 18

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

​I love you, Jehovah, my strength and my power.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress afield;
my God, I seek refuge within your high tower,
protect me and save me, my buckler and shield.

I call on the LORD, who deserves my devotion;
so I, from my enemies' grip, will be saved.
Engulfed in the billows of death's endless ocean;
​the flood of the godless rolls over in waves.

​Entangled in cords of the grave that have tightened,
as death lays its snares as a trap in my way.
Distressed, I cry out to the LORD — I'm so frightened;
for God's intervention do I hope and pray.

He heard my lone voice from his heavenly temple;
he hears with his ears every cry that I make.
The earth moved and shuddered, the mountaintops tremble​​;
God's anger has caused their foundations to shake.

His nostrils blew smoke; from his mouth, fire consuming,
coals kindled and blazing and spewing their heat.
​He parted the heavens, and there, in the glooming,
descended with thick, dark clouds under his feet.

He mounted the back of a cherub, then riding
he glided and soared on the wings of the wind.
He shrouded himself in the darkness, in hiding;
dark waters and clouds veil his structure therein.

From brightness before him, his thick clouds surrounding,
come hailstones and coals that have been set aflame.
The LORD Most High thundered from heaven, resounding​
as hailstones and fiery coals poured down like rain.

He sent forth his arrows, men ran in commotion;
they fled from his lightning bolts hurled through the air.
The blast of your breath, LORD, uncovered the ocean;
rebuked, the foundations of earth were laid bare.​​

He reached down from heaven and gently withdrew me
from out of the depths of the deep rolling sea.
He saved me from powerful foes who pursue me;
the hateful and those who are stronger than me.

Attacked at a time I had nothing to hope in,
Jehovah protected me from every foe.
He led me to safety, a place in the open,
​he saved me because I delighted him so.

The LORD has rewarded my deeds as he's weighed them;
because of my innocence I am restored.
I've kept all the ways of the LORD and obeyed them;
I've not turned from God nor abandoned my LORD.

​For all of his rules and his judgments before me,
I've never abandoned his stated decrees.
I'm blameless before him of sin, uniformly;
I've guarded my heart with a life on my knees.

So I've been rewarded for godly deeds, solely,
the LORD knows my hands have been clean in his sight.
With those who are holy, you've shown yourself holy;
to people upright, shown yourself as upright.

​With those who are pure, shown yourself to be pure, then;
but those who are crooked you’ve shown yourself wise.
You rescue the humble, afflicted and poor men,
but bring down the haughty with pride in their eyes.

​LORD, you keep my candle lit, burning and dancing;
my God lights the dark so all gloom is unveiled.
In you I can crush any army advancing;
​with God, every wall that I leap can be scaled.

​For God's way is blameless; the LORD's word, perfection.
He shields and protects those who give him their trust.
Indeed, who is God but the LORD in reflection?
And who is the Rock but our God who is just?

The God who equipped me with strength and with power,
removes every hurdle and makes my way plain.
He makes me as swift as the deer in the flower,
sure-footed in mountains and rugged terrain.

For hand-to-hand combat, he's laid the foundation;
the strength of my arms bends the bronze bow I hold.
You've given me, LORD, your great shield of salvation;
your right hand supports me and makes me extolled.

You've broadened the pathway that my feet have stepped on,
I no longer trip on debris to avoid.
Pursuing my enemies, running, I kept on
and did not turn back until they were destroyed.

I crushed them completely, and put down the rabble;
they're fallen, lay desolate under my feet.
For you have equipped me with strength for the battle;
those rising against me you've thoroughly beat.

You've shown me their necks when they turned and retreated,
with those who have hated me sentenced to die.
They cried out for mercy, but none interceded;
they cried to the LORD, but he did not reply.

I've ground them to dust blown in windy conditions;
and into the gutter like dirt they were thrown.
You saved me from strife from the people's seditions;
made ​me lead a nation of people unknown.

As soon as they hear me, they kneel in submission;
the foreigners cower when they venture near.
The strangers lose heart when they see their position,
and leave from their fortifications in fear.

Oh, let the LORD live! To my Rock, I give glory!
​The God of salvation — exalted is he!
The God who avenges, the one fighting for me;
subduing the nations and peoples to me.

You lifted me over my foes' domination;
delivered me from the most violent of men.
For this, O LORD, I will praise you among nations,
and I will sing praises about your name, then.

Salvation he brings to his king and appointed,
great victories given from heaven ascend;
unfailing to show his love to his anointed,
to David and to his descendants no end.

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I love you, LORD, my strength.
(18:1 - NIV)

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.
(18:2 - NLT)

I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
(18:3 - ESV)

The cords of death encompassed me, And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me.
(18:4 - NASB)

The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path.
(18:5 - NLT)

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
(18:6 - NIV)

Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the mountains shook; they quaked because of his anger.
18:7 - NLT)

Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him.
(18:8 - NLT)

He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
18:9 - NIV)

He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
(18:10 - BSB)

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.
(18:11 - ESV)

Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
(18:12 - ESV)

LORD Most High, your voice thundered from the heavens, as hailstones and fiery coals poured down like rain.
(18:13 - CEV)

And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
(18:14 - ESV)

Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
(18:15 - ESV)

He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.
(18:16 - NLT)

He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.
(18:17 - NLT)

They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the LORD supported me.
(18:18 - NLT)

He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.
(18:19 - NLT)

The LORD rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.
(18:20 - NLT)

For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not turned from my God to follow evil.
(18:21 - NLT)

I have followed all his regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees.
(18:22 - NLT)

I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin.
(18:23 - NLT)

So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
(18:24 - ESV)

To the holy, you show your gracious love, to the upright, you show yourself upright;
(18:25 - ISV)

To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
(18:26 - NLT)

For You save an afflicted people, but You humble those with haughty eyes.
(18:27 - BSB)

You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
(18:28 - NIV)

In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
(18:29 - NLT)

As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
(18:30 - NKJV)

For who is God except the LORD? Who but our God is a solid rock?
(18:31 - NLT)

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way clear.
(18:32 - BSB)

You make my feet run as fast as those of a deer, and you help me stand on the mountains.
(18:33 - CES)

He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
(18:34 - NASB)

You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.
(18:35 - ESV)

You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.
(18:36 - BSB)

I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
(18:37 - NIV)

I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
(18:38 - NIV)

For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me.
(18:39 - ESV)

You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed.
(18:40 - ESV)

They called for help, but no one came to their rescue. They even cried to the LORD, but he refused to answer.
(18:41 - NLT)

I ground them as fine as dust in the wind. I swept them into the gutter like dirt.
(18:42 - NLT)

You delivered me from strife with the people; you made me the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me.
(18:43 - ESV)

When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.
(18:44 - BSB)

Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds.
(18:45 - BSB)

The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!
(18:46 - NLT)

He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,
(18:47 - NIV)

He delivers me from my enemies; Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man.
(18:48 - NIV)

For this, O LORD, I will praise you among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.
(18:49 - NLT)

Great salvation He brings to His king. He shows loving devotion to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.
​(18:50 - BSB)

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NIV: New International Version   •   NLT: New Living Translation   •   ESV: English Standard Version   •   NASB: New American Standard Bible   •   BSB: Berean Study Bible   •   CEV: Contemporary English Version   •   ISV: International Standard Bible   •   NKJV: New King James Version