Psalm 18

New King James Version

God the Sovereign Savior^(A)

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David ^(B)the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of ^(C)this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:

18 I ^(D)will love You, O Lord, my strength.
²The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my ^[a]strength, ^(E)in whom I will trust;
My shield and the ^[b]horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³I will call upon the Lord, ^(F)who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁴^(G)The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ^[c]ungodliness made me afraid.
⁵The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

⁷^(H)Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
⁸Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
⁹^(I)He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
¹⁰^(J)And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
^(K)He flew upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹He made darkness His secret place;
^(L)His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
¹²^(M)From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered ^(N)His voice,
^[d]Hailstones and coals of fire.
¹⁴^(O)He sent out His arrows and scattered ^[e]the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶^(P)He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me,
For they were too strong for me.
¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support.
¹⁹^(Q)He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.

²⁰^(R)The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
²²For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
²³I was also blameless ^[f]before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
²⁴^(S)Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

²⁵^(T)With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
²⁶With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And ^(U)with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
²⁷For You will save the humble people,
But will bring down ^(V)haughty looks.

²⁸^(W)For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
²⁹For by You I can ^[g]run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰As for God, ^(X)His way is perfect;
^(Y)The word of the Lord is ^[h]proven;
He is a shield ^(Z)to all who trust in Him.

³¹^(AA)For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
³²It is God who ^(AB)arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
³³^(AC)He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And ^(AD)sets me on my high places.
³⁴^(AE)He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.
³⁶You enlarged my path under me,
^(AF)So my feet did not slip.

³⁷I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
³⁸I have wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
³⁹For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have ^[i]subdued under me those who rose up against me.
⁴⁰You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
⁴¹They cried out, but there was none to save;
^(AG)Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
⁴²Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
I ^(AH)cast them out like dirt in the streets.

⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
^(AI)You have made me the head of the ^[j]nations;
^(AJ)A people I have not known shall serve me.
⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners ^[k]submit to me.
⁴⁵^(AK)The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.

⁴⁶The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
⁴⁷It is God who avenges me,
^(AL)And subdues the peoples under me;
⁴⁸He delivers me from my enemies.
^(AM)You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
⁴⁹^(AN)Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the ^[l]Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.

⁵⁰^(AO)Great deliverance He gives to His king,
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his ^[m]descendants forevermore.

Footnotes

Psalm 18:2 Lit. rock
Psalm 18:2 Strength
Psalm 18:4 Lit. Belial
Psalm 18:13 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; a few Heb. mss., LXX omit Hailstones and coals of fire
Psalm 18:14 Lit. them
Psalm 18:23 with
Psalm 18:29 Or run through
Psalm 18:30 Lit. refined
Psalm 18:39 Lit. caused to bow
Psalm 18:43 Gentiles
Psalm 18:44 feign submission
Psalm 18:49 nations
Psalm 18:50 Lit. seed

Matthew 18

New King James Version

Who Is the Greatest?^(A)

18 At ^(B)that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

²Then Jesus called a little ^(C)child to Him, set him in the midst of them, ³and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, ^(D)unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴^(E)Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵^(F)Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

Jesus Warns of Offenses^(G)

⁶^(H)“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. ⁷Woe to the world because of ^[a]offenses! For ^(I)offenses must come, but ^(J)woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

⁸^(K)“If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. ⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into ^[b]hell fire.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep^(L)

¹⁰“Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven ^(M)their angels always ^(N)see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ¹¹^(O)For^[c] the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

¹²^(P)“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? ¹³And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. ¹⁴Even so it is not the ^(Q)will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Dealing with a Sinning Brother

¹⁵“Moreover ^(R)if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, ^(S)you have gained your brother. ¹⁶But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ^(T)‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ ¹⁷And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a ^(U)heathen and a tax collector.

¹⁸“Assuredly, I say to you, ^(V)whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

¹⁹^(W)“Again^[d] I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, ^(X)it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered ^(Y)together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

²¹Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ^(Z)Up to seven times?”

²²Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, ^(AA)up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. ²³Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded ^(AB)that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. ²⁶The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ ²⁷Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

²⁸“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ ²⁹So his fellow servant fell down ^[e]at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you ^[f]all.’ ³⁰And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. ³¹So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. ³²Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you ^(AC)all that debt because you begged me. ³³Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.