2 Samuel

2 Jehovah is my cliff and fastness, my preserver;

3* my God is my rock that I take refuge in,

my shield and victorious horn,

My citadel and refuge, my savior saving me from outrage.

4* I proclaim Jehovah a God to be praised, and am

saved from my enemies.

5 Breakers of death have enveloped me, torrents

of bale overwhelm me,

6 the cords of the world below have gone round me,

death’s snares approached me,—

7 In my distress I call on Jehovah, and to my God I cry,

and he has heard my voice out of his palace,

and my cry sounded in his ears.

8 And the earth rolled and shook,

the sky’s foundations trembled

and rolled because he was angry;

9 Smoke rose at his nostril,

and fire out of his mouth devoured what it met;

coals caught from it.

10 And he bent the sky and came down

with thick air under his feet,

11 And mounted a cherub and flew,

sped on the wings of the wind,

12 Made darkness his screen around him,

his bower a clump of water, a cloud in the heavens;

13 coals of fire caught from his presence;

14 Jehovah thundered out of the skies,

the Lord above uttered his voice,

15 And sent his arrows and scattered them,

flashed lightning and threw them into confusion,

16 And the chasms of the sea came in sight,

the foundations of the world were uncovered,

At your rebuke, Jehovah,

at a breath from your nostrils.

17 He has sent from on high and taken me,

drawn me out of deep waters,

18 Delivered me from my enemy strong,

from my haters when they were too much for me—

19 They advanced on me in my day of calamity,

but Jehovah was a stay to me,

20 And brought me out where I had room,

rescuing me because he held me dear.

21 Jehovah gives me requital suitable to my honesty,

return suitable to the cleanness of my hands,

22 Because I have kept Jehovah’s ways

and not gone into wickedness from my God,

23 Because all his laws are present to my mind

and his usages I do not set aside,

24 And I have been straightforward toward him

and guarded against my offending nature;

25 And Jehovah has given me return suitable to my honesty,

to the cleanness of my hands under his eyes.

26 With a godly man you deal friendlily;

with a straightforward man, straightforwardly;

27 With a clean man, cleanly;

and a dodger you outmaneuver,

28* And downtrodden people you save,

and lofty eyes you bring down.

29 For you are my lamp, Jehovah,

and my God lights up my darkness;

30 For by you I break a fence,

by my God I leap a wall.

31 The Deity’s path is straightforward;

Jehovah’s say is sterling;

he is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

32 For who is God besides Jehovah?

and who is a rock except our God?

33 The Deity it is that girds me with stoutness

and makes my path straightforward,

34 Makes my feet like a wild doe’s

and brings me to stand on heights,

35 Trains my hands for the battle

till my arms break a bow of bronze.

36 And you have given me the shield of your aid,

and your care makes me great;

37 You make my stride bold

and my ankles do not turn.

38 I pursue my enemies and overtake them,

and do not turn back till I have finished them.

39 I finish them, I batter them so that they do not rise,

they fall under my feet.

40 And you have girded me with stoutness for the battle,

you lay my adversaries low under me,

41 And give me my enemies’ backs;

my haters I annihilate.

42 They cry and there is nobody to save them,

cry to Jehovah and he does not answer them,

43 And I rub them fine like dust on the ground,

like clay in the streets I beat them to powder.

44 And you have preserved me out of my people’s conflicts,

guarded me for a head of nations;

a people that I had not known shall serve me;

45 Foreigners cringe to me,

upon hearsay they are at my orders;

46* Foreigners break up,

are frightened out of their coverts.

47 Living is Jehovah, and blessed my Rock,

and lofty my God of salvation,

48 The Deity who grants me vengeances

and brings peoples down under me,

49 My preserver from my enemies;

you uplift me above my adversaries,

deliver me from the man of outrage.

50 Therefore I thank you, Jehovah, among the nations,

and sing psalms to your name:

51 He greatly saves his king

and befriends his anointed,

David and his posterity forever.