Psalms 18:1-30:12 I will love you, O LORD, my strength.

UKJV⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ I will love you, O LORD, my strength. ² The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. ³ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. ⁴ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. ⁵ The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. ⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. ⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was angry. ⁸ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. ⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. ¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. ¹³ The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. ¹⁴ Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and humiliated them. ¹⁵ Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. ¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. ¹⁸ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. ¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. ²⁰ The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²² For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. ²³ I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore has the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. ²⁵ With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright; ²⁶ With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the perverse you will show yourself perverse. ²⁷ For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks. ²⁸ For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. ²⁹ For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 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. ³¹ For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? ³² It is God that girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect. ³³ He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me upon my high places. ³⁴ He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. ³⁵ You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great. ³⁶ You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. ³⁷ I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I return till they were consumed. ³⁸ I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. ³⁹ For you have girded me with strength unto the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me. ⁴⁰ You have also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. ⁴¹ They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. ⁴² Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. ⁴³ You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me. ⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me. ⁴⁵ The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. ⁴⁶ The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. ⁴⁷ It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me. ⁴⁸ He delivers me from mine enemies: yea, you lift me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man. ⁴⁹ Therefore will I give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto your name. ⁵⁰ Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore. ¹⁹ ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun, ⁵ Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. ⁶ His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. ⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. ⁸ The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. ¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover by them is your servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. ¹² Who can understand his errors? cleanse you me from secret faults. ¹³ Keep back your servant also from arrogant sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ²⁰ ¹ The LORD hear you in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend you; ² Send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion; ³ Remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice; Selah. ⁴ Grant you according to your own heart, and fulfill all your counsel. ⁵ We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfill all your petitions. ⁶ Now know I that the LORD saves his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. ⁷ Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. ⁸ They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. ⁹ Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call. ²¹ ¹ The king shall joy in your strength, O LORD; and in your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! ² You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. ³ For you prevent him with the blessings of goodness: you set a crown of pure gold on his head. ⁴ He asked life of you, and you gave it him, even length of days for ever and ever. ⁵ His glory is great in your salvation: honour and majesty have you laid upon him. ⁶ For you have made him most blessed for ever: you have made him exceeding glad with your countenance. ⁷ For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. ⁸ your hand shall find out all of your enemies: your right hand shall find out those that hate you. ⁹ You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. ¹⁰ Their fruit shall you destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. ¹¹ For they intended evil against you: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. ¹² Therefore shall you make them turn their back, when you shall make ready your arrows upon your strings against the face of them. ¹³ Be you exalted, LORD, in your own strength: so will we sing and praise your power. ²² ¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? ² O my God, I cry in the day time, but you hear not; and in the night season, and am not silent. ³ But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Israel. ⁴ Our fathers trusted in you: they trusted, and you did deliver them. ⁵ They cried unto you, and were delivered: they trusted in you, and were not confounded. ⁶ But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. ⁷ All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ⁸ He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. ⁹ But you are he that took me out of the womb: you did make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. ¹⁰ I was cast upon you from the womb: you are my God from my mother's belly. ¹¹ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. ¹² Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. ¹³ They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and you have brought me into the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷ I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. ¹⁸ They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. ¹⁹ But be not you far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste you to help me. ²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. ²¹ Save me from the lion's mouth: for you have heard me from the horns of the unicorns. ²² I will declare your name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise you. ²³ All of you that fear the LORD, praise him; all you the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all you the seed of Israel. ²⁴ For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. ²⁵ My praise shall be of you in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. ²⁶ The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. ²⁷ All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. ²⁸ For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations. ²⁹ All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. ³⁰ A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. ³¹ They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this. ²³ ¹ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack. ² He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. ³ He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. ²⁴ ¹ The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. ² For he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. ³ Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴ He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. ⁵ He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. ⁶ This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek your face, O Jacob. Selah. ⁷ Lift up your heads, O all of you gates; and be all of you lift up, all of you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. ⁸ Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. ⁹ Lift up your heads, O all of you gates; even lift them up, all of you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. ¹⁰ Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah. ²⁵ ¹ Unto you, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. ² O my God, I trust in you: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. ³ Yea, let none that wait on you be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. ⁴ Show me your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. ⁵ Lead me in your truth, and teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; on you do I wait all the day. ⁶ Remember, O LORD, your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old. ⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to your mercy remember you me for your goodness' sake, O LORD. ⁸ Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. ⁹ The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. ¹⁰ All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. ¹¹ For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. ¹² What man is he that fears the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. ¹³ His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. ¹⁴ The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. ¹⁵ Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. ¹⁶ Turn you unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. ¹⁷ The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring you me out of my distresses. ¹⁸ Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. ¹⁹ Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. ²⁰ O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in you. ²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on you. ²² Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. ²⁶ ¹ Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. ² Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. ³ For your loving kindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in your truth. ⁴ I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. ⁵ I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked. ⁶ I will wash mine hands in innocence: so will I compass your altar, O LORD: ⁷ That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all your wondrous works. ⁸ LORD, I have loved the habitation of your house, and the place where your honour dwells. ⁹ Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: ¹⁰ In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. ¹¹ But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. ¹² My foot stands in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD. ²⁷ ¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ² When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. ³ Though an host should camp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. ⁴ One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. ⁵ For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. ⁶ And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. ⁷ Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. ⁸ When you said, Seek all of you my face; my heart said unto you, Your face, LORD, will I seek. ⁹ Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. ¹⁰ When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. ¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. ¹² Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. ¹³ I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ¹⁴ Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. ²⁸ ¹ Unto you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. ² Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle. ³ Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. ⁴ Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. ⁵ Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. ⁶ Blessed be the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my supplications. ⁷ The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him. ⁸ The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed. ⁹ Save your people, and bless your inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever. ²⁹ ¹ Give unto the LORD, O all of you mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. ² Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. ³ The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thunders: the LORD is upon many waters. ⁴ The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. ⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; yea, the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn (p. ox). ⁷ The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire. ⁸ The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. ⁹ The voice of the LORD makes the hinds to calve, and discovers the forests: and in his temple does every one speak of his glory. ¹⁰ The LORD sits upon the flood; yea, the LORD sits King for ever. ¹¹ The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. ³⁰ ¹ I will extol you, O LORD; for you have lifted me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. ² O LORD my God, I cried unto you, and you have healed me. ³ O LORD, you have brought up my soul from the grave: you have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. ⁴ Sing unto the LORD, O all of you saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. ⁵ For his anger endures but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. ⁶ And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. ⁷ LORD, by your favour you have made my mountain to stand strong: you did hide your face, and I was troubled. ⁸ I cried to you, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication. ⁹ What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? shall it declare your truth? ¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be you my helper. ¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing: you have put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; ¹² To the end that my glory may sing praise to you, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto you for ever.