Psalm 16-18

Jubilee Bible 2000

Michtam of David.

¹ ¶ Preserve me, O God: for in thee I have put my trust.

² I said unto the LORD, Thou art my goodness: I have no goodness apart from thee;

³ to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent: all my delight is towards them.

⁴ The sorrows of those that hasten after another god shall be multiplied; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

⁵ The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; thou dost maintain my lot.

⁶ The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I will bless the LORD, who gives me counsel: my kidneys also instruct me in the night seasons.

⁸ ¶ I have set the LORD always before me: because when he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest secure.

¹⁰ For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thy Merciful One to see corruption.

¹¹ Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

A Prayer of David.

¹ ¶ Hear righteousness, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that does not go out of feigned lips.

² Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold uprightness.

³ Thou hast proved my heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast refined me and hast found no iniquity; that which I thought did not pass through my mouth.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have observed the ways of the violent.

⁵ Sustain my steps in thy ways that my footsteps not slip.

⁶ I have called upon thee, because thou dost hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me and hear my speech.

⁷ Show thy mercy to be marvellous, O Saviour of those who put their trust in thee, from those that rise up against thy right hand.

⁸ ¶ Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me with the shadow of thy wings,

⁹ from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

¹⁰ They are closed in with their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹ They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes upon throwing us down to the earth

¹² like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³ Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, with thy sword;

¹⁴ from men, with thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life and whose belly thou dost fill with thy provision: they satisfy their sons and leave the rest to their family.

¹⁵ As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David, the slave of the LORD, who spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,

¹ ¶ I will love thee, 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 my enemies.

⁴ The pain of death compassed me, and the rivers of Belial made me afraid.

⁵ The pain of Sheol compassed me about: the snares of death came before 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 of the mountains collapsed and were removed because he was wroth.

⁸ Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He lowered the heavens and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub and flew: yea, he flew upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness his hiding place; in his tabernacle round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the heavens.

¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

¹³ The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ He sent out his arrows and scattered them; he shot out lightnings and destroyed them.

¹⁵ Then the depths of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy 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 those who hated me, even though they were too strong for me.

¹⁸ They were ready for me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my staff.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a wide place; he delivered me because he delighted in me.

²⁰ ¶ The LORD will reward me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he shall recompense me.

²¹ Because I have kept the ways of the LORD and did not become wicked departing in apostasy from my God.

²² For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

²³ I was perfect before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴ Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

²⁵ With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with a perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;

²⁶ with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the perverse thou wilt show thyself adversary.

²⁷ Therefore thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down high looks.

²⁸ For thou wilt light my fire: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

²⁹ ¶ For with thee I have scattered armies; and in my God I have overcome walled defenses.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is precise: a shield to all those that wait in him.

³¹ For who is God except the LORD? or who is a refuge except 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 trains my hands for the battle, so that a bow of bronze shall be broken by my arms.

³⁵ In the same manner thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand will hold me up, and thy meekness shall multiply me.

³⁶ Thou shall enlarge my steps under me, and my knees shall not tremble.

³⁷ I shall pursue my enemies and overtake them: neither shall I turn again until they are consumed.

³⁸ I shall smite them, and they will not be able to rise: they shall fall under my feet.

³⁹ For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued my enemies under me.

⁴⁰ Thou hast also given me the necks of my enemies that I might destroy those that hate me.

⁴¹ They cried out, but there was no one to save them: even unto the LORD, but he did not answer them.

⁴² Then I beat them as small as the dust before the wind: I scattered them as the dirt in the streets.

⁴³ Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the Gentiles: a people whom I did not know served me.

⁴⁴ As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me: the sons of strangers submitted themselves unto me even against their will.

⁴⁵ The strangers fell away and were afraid in 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 peoples under me.

⁴⁸ He delivers me from my enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the one who would betray me.

⁴⁹ Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the Gentiles and sing praises unto thy name.

⁵⁰ He gives great deliverance to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.