‘The Lord keeps me safe.
    He is my great rock and my strong place.
³ My God is my high rock.
    I run to him to hide and be safe.
He keeps me safe like a soldier's shield.
He is the strong place where I can hide safely.
God, you have saved me from men who want to attack me.
⁴ I praise the Lord because he deserves it!
When I called to him for help,
    he saved me from my enemies.
⁵ Death was near enough to catch me!
    Danger was like a river that wanted to drown me.
⁶ Death was tying me up with ropes,
    to pull me into the deep hole of the grave.
⁷ In my trouble I prayed to the Lord.
    I called to my God to help me.
He heard my voice from his home in heaven.
My prayer reached his ears.
⁸ Then the earth moved and it shook.
Even the sky shook,
    because God was angry.
⁹ He breathed out smoke from his nose.
Fire and hot coals came out from his mouth,
    to destroy his enemies.
¹⁰ God caused the sky to bend as he came down.
    Dark clouds were under his feet.
¹¹ He sat on a cherub and he flew.
    He flew like the wind.
¹² God put darkness all round him.
    He hid himself under dark clouds that held rain.
¹³ Bright light went in front of him.
    There was lightning like hot coals!
¹⁴ The Lord sent thunder from the sky.
    People everywhere heard the voice of the Most High God.
¹⁵ The Lord shot arrows of lightning.
    He caused his enemies to run away.
¹⁶ When the Lord shouted against his enemies,
    even the bottom of the deep sea appeared.
People could see the deepest places of the earth,
    when he breathed out in anger.
¹⁷ The Lord reached down to me from above.
    He took hold of me and he pulled me up out of the deep water.
¹⁸ Yes, he saved me from my powerful enemies.
The people who hated me were too strong for me,
    but the Lord saved me from their power.
¹⁹ They attacked me when I was in trouble,
    but the Lord helped me.
²⁰ He led me out to an open place where I would be safe.
    He saved me because I made him happy.
²¹ The Lord was kind to me
    because I do things that please him.
He blesses me
    because I am not guilty of bad things.
²² I have obeyed the Lord's commands.
I have not turned against my God.
²³ I understand all his rules,
    and I do not refuse to obey them.
²⁴ He knows that I have done nothing that is wrong.
    I kept away from any sin.
²⁵ The Lord was kind to me,
    because I did good things.
He sees that I am not guilty.
²⁶ Lord, if people are faithful to you,
    then you are faithful to them.
If people do nothing that is bad,
    they can trust you to do nothing bad to them.
²⁷ If people keep themselves pure,
    they can trust you to do only good things.
But if people are wicked,
    you turn against them.
²⁸ You save people who are humble.
    But if people are proud, you cause them to fall.
²⁹ Lord, you make my lamp burn brightly.
You are my light in the dark.
³⁰ You make me strong,
    so that I can chase a whole army!
With the help of my God,
    I can climb over any high wall.
³¹ God's way is perfect.
    The Lord's promises are always true.
He keeps safe everyone who goes to him for help,
    like a shield that keeps a soldier safe.
³² We know that the Lord is God,
    and no one else.
Only our God can keep us safe,
    like a strong rock!
³³ It is God who makes me strong.
    He shows me the safe way through my life.
³⁴ He makes my feet stand strongly on the ground.
Like a deer,
    I can stand on high hills and not fall.
³⁵ He teaches me how to fight in war.
He makes my arms strong
    to shoot arrows from a metal bow.
³⁶ You keep me safe in the battle,
    like a shield.
Your kind help has made me great.
³⁷ You have helped me to move safely,
    so that my feet do not slip.
³⁸ I ran after my enemies and I destroyed them.
    I did not turn back until I had killed them.
³⁹ I destroyed them completely.
I knocked them down to the ground.
    They could not get up again.
    They fell under my feet.
⁴⁰ You have made me strong to fight battles
    so that I win against my enemies.
⁴¹ You caused my enemies to turn their backs,
    and they ran away from me.
I destroyed those who hate me.
⁴² They called out for help,
    but nobody was there to save them.
They called to the Lord,
    but he did not answer them.
⁴³ I beat them until they became like dust.
I walked over them,
    like dirt that lies on the streets.
⁴⁴ You have saved me when my people were attacking me.
    You have made me a ruler of other nations.
People that I did not know before
    now serve me as their ruler.
⁴⁵ Foreign people cannot stand against me,
    because they are afraid.
When they hear about me,
    they choose to obey me.
⁴⁶ They are not brave enough to fight me.
They shake with fear
    as they leave their strong cities.
⁴⁷ The Lord is alive! He is my strong Rock!
    Everyone should praise him!
    He rules as king!
He is the strong God who saves me.
⁴⁸ He is the true God who punishes my enemies.
    He makes the nations obey me.
⁴⁹ He is the one who saves me from my enemies.
Yes, God, you give me power
    to win against those who attack me.
You keep me safe from angry and cruel men.
⁵⁰ Lord, I will thank you,
    so that all the nations know about you.
I will sing to praise your name.
⁵¹ Yes, the Lord gives power to me, David, his king.
    He gives me great strength to win against my enemies.
I am the special king that he has chosen.
He will continue to be kind to me
    and to my descendants for ever.’