

David Sings to the LORD
22:1 David sang1
the words of this song to the LORD on the day that the LORD rescued him from
the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 22:2
He said,
The LORD is my rock and my fortress; he is the one who delivers me.
22:3 My God2
is my rock; I take refuge in him.
My shield and the horn of my deliverance, my stronghold,
my refuge, my savior. You deliver me from those who are violent.
22:4 I call to the LORD, the one who is to be praised,
and I am delivered from my enemies.
22:5 The breakers of death encompassed me;
the rushing torrents of destruction assailed me.
22:6 The cords of death3
surrounded me;
the traps of death confronted me.
22:7 In my distress I cried to the LORD;
I called out to my God.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my call for help reached his ears.
22:8 The earth trembled and shook;
the foundations of the sky quivered.
They shook because he was angry.
22:9 Smoke went up from his nostrils;
fire from his mouth devoured.
Coals burned forth from it.
22:10 He spread out the heavens and descended;
a dark cloud was beneath his feet.
22:11 He rode on a cherub, flying.
He flew swiftly4
on the wings of the wind.
22:12 He put darkness all around him as an enclosure.
the thick masses of clouds are for collection of the waters.
22:13 From the brightness that was before him burned
coals of fire.
22:14 The LORD thundered forth from the sky;
the Most High uttered his voice.
22:15 He shot5
arrows and scattered them;6
he flashed lightning and scared them.
22:16 The channels of the sea were brought into view;
the foundations of the earth were exposed
by the LORDs rebuke, by the breath of wind from his nostrils.
22:17 From the heights he stretched out his hand7
and took hold of me.
He drew me from many waters.
22:18 He delivered me from my strong enemy
from my adversaries, for they were too strong for me.
22:19 They stood before me on the day of my destruction.
But it was the LORD that I leaned on.8
22:20 He brought me out into the broad place;
he delivered me because he took delight in me.
22:21 The LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness;
he has repaid me according to the purity of my hands.
22:22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not acted in an evil way against my God.
22:23 For all his judgments are before me;
I have not turned away from his statutes.
22:24 I am blameless before him;
I have kept myself from my iniquity.
22:25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness
according to my purity in his sight.9
22:26 To the faithful you demonstrate that you are faithful;
to the blameless warrior you demonstrate that you are blameless.
22:27 To those who are pure you demonstrate that you are pure;
but you wrestle with10
those who are perverted.
22:28 You save an afflicted people;
but you oppose11
the arrogant and cause their downfall.
22:29 You are my lamp,12
O LORD.
The LORD illumines13
my darkness.
22:30 With you I can run against a hostile troop;
with my God I can leap over a wall.
22:31 As for God, his way is perfect;
what the LORD says is without imperfection.14
He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
22:32 Indeed, who is God other than the LORD?
Who is a rock other than our God?
22:33 God is my mighty refuge;15
he causes16
my17
path to be perfect.
22:34 He establishes my18
feet like those of the does;
he enables me to stand on the precipices.
22:35 he equips19
my hands for battle;
my arms can stretch even a bow made of bronze.
22:36 You provide for me your victorious shield;
by lowering yourself you make me great.
22:37 You make the path20
beneath me spacious;
my ankles do not falter.
22:38 I went after my enemies and destroyed them;
I did not return until I had finished them off.
22:39 I completely shattered them, leaving them unable to get up;
they fell beneath my feet.
22:40 You girded me with strength for the battle;
you caused my adversaries to cower beneath me.
22:41 You showed me the back of my enemies as they fled;
I annihilated my adversaries.
22:42 They cried out for help,21
but there was no one to deliver them;
they called out22
to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
22:43 I pulverized them as fine as the dust of the ground;
I crushed and mashed them like mud in the streets.
22:44 You delivered me from the hostilities of my own people;
you protected me as a head of nations.
A people I did not even know served me.
22:45 Foreigners came cringing to me;
with receptive ears they obeyed me.
22:46 Foreigners withered away;
they quaked23
as they came from their strongholds.
22:47 The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock!
Let the God of the rock, my deliverer, be exalted!
22:48 It is God who avenges me,
and subjects peoples beneath me.
22:49 It is he who frees me from my enemies.
You have exalted me over my adversaries.
You have delivered me from violent people.
22:50 Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing to your name.
22:51 You are the one who magnifies24
the victories of his king,
the one who shows tender loyalty to his anointed,
to David and to his descendants forever.

