Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 18
Unfailing Kindness to David
And to His Descendant Forever
(2 Samuel 22)
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For the choir director.
By David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the grasp of all his enemies, even from the grasp of Saul.
Praise to the Rock of Salvation
1 Then he said:
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rocky cliff, my stronghold, and my deliverer.
My God is my rock. I take refuge in him.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high fortress.
3 I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
Deliverance From Death
4 The ropes of death entangled me.
Floodwaters of destruction[a] rolled over me.
5 The ropes of the grave wrapped around me.
The traps of death threatened me.
6 In my distress I called to the Lord.
To my God I cried out.
He heard my voice from his temple.
My cry came before him. It reached his ears.
The Greatness of the Deliverance
7 Then the earth shook and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains[b] trembled.
They shook because the Lord was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils,
and fire from his mouth devoured.
Coals were set on fire by it.
9 Then he tore open the heavens and came down.
A dark cloud was under his feet.
10 He rode upon a cherub,[c] and he flew.
He soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made the darkness around him his hiding place.
Dark rain clouds[d] surrounded him like a canopy.
12 Emerging from the brightness in front of him
his clouds passed by with hail and coals of fire.
13 Then the Lord thundered in the heavens.
The Most High raised his voice with hail and coals of fire.[e]
14 Then he shot his arrows and scattered the enemy.
He shot great lightning bolts and routed them.
15 Then the sources of water[f] were revealed,
and the foundations of the world were uncovered
by your rebuke, O Lord,
by the breath of wind from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me.
He drew me out of deep waters.
17 Because they were too strong for me,
he rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from those who hate me.
18 They confronted me on the day of my disaster,
but the Lord supported me.
19 Then he brought me out into a wide-open space.
He rescued me because he delighted in me.
David’s Uprightness as a Basis for God’s Judgment
20 The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness.
According to the cleanness of my hands he has repaid me,
21 for I have kept the ways of the Lord.
I have not done evil and departed from my God.
22 So all his just decrees remain before me,
and I have not turned his statutes away from me.
23 I have been blameless with him.
I have kept myself from guilt.
24 The Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
God’s Uprightness as a Basis for His Judgment
25 To the merciful you reveal yourself as merciful.
To the blameless person you reveal yourself as blameless.
26 To the pure you reveal yourself as pure,
but to the crooked you reveal yourself as crafty.
27 For you save humble people,
but you bring low the eyes of the arrogant.
28 Yes, you light my lamp, O Lord.
My God turns my darkness to light.
29 For with you I can charge against a battalion,
and with my God I can jump over a wall.
God Equips David for Victory
30 This God—his way is blameless.
The speech of the Lord is pure.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 This God wraps me with strength
and makes my way perfect.[g]
33 By making my feet like those of a deer
he enables me to stand on high places.
34 Because he trains my hands for battle,
my arms can draw a bronze bow.
35 Then you give me the shield of your salvation.
Your right hand sustains me,
and you stoop down to lift me up.
36 You widen the path under my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way.
David’s Victories
37 I pursued my enemies, and I overtook them.
So I did not turn back until they were wiped out.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise again.
They fell beneath my feet.
39 You wrapped me with strength for battle.
You made those who rose up against me bow down to me.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs and flee.
I destroyed those who hate me.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them.
They cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 So I grind them as fine as dust blown by the wind.
I dump them out like mud in the streets.
43 You delivered me from the accusations of the people.
You made me the head of nations.
A people I did not know serve me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me.
Foreigners cower before me.
45 Foreigners fall exhausted.
They come trembling from their strongholds.
Closing Words of Faith
46 The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock!
May the God who saves me be exalted!
47 The God who avenges me subdues peoples under me.
48 You delivered me from my enemies.
Yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me.
You rescued me from the violent man.
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, Lord.
To your name I will make music.
50 By providing great salvation for his King,
he shows mercy to his Anointed One,
to David and to his Descendant[h] forever.
12 There is a day coming for the Lord of Armies,
a day against everyone who is proud and arrogant,
against everyone who is lifted up—
he will be pressed down—
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so tall and lofty,
against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the high mountains,
against all the hills that are lifted up,
15 against every tall tower,
against every fortified wall,
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,[a]
and against all the beautiful ships.[b]
17 The pride of mankind will be humbled,
and the arrogance of man will be brought low.
Then the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
18 Those gods that are not gods will disappear completely.
19 People will flee into caves in the rocks
and into holes in the ground,
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth tremble.
20 In that day people will throw away to the moles[c] and bats
their worthless gods of silver
and their worthless gods of gold,
that they made for themselves to worship.
21 They will go into the clefts in the rocks
and into the crevices in the cliffs,
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth tremble.
22 Give up trusting in mankind.
All they have is breath in their nostrils.
What are they worth anyway?
Timothy’s Mission and Good Report
3 So, when we could not stand it any longer, we thought it best to remain behind in Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and coworker for God in the gospel of Christ.[a] We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one will be shaken by these trials, for you know well that we are destined for this. 4 In fact, even when we were with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to suffer, and it happened just that way, as you know. 5 This is why, when I could not stand it any longer, I sent to find out about your faith, because I was afraid that somehow the Tempter had tempted you and our labor might have been for nothing.
6 But now, Timothy has returned to us from you and has told us the good news about your faith and love. He also told us that you always have fond memories of us and long to see us, just as much as we also long to see you. 7 Because of this, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been encouraged about you through your faith. 8 For now we really live, if you are standing firm in the Lord. 9 Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have before God on account of you? 10 Night and day we are praying earnestly to see you in person and to supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 May God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord increase your love and make it overflow for each other and for all people, just as ours does for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts as blameless in holiness before our God and Father, when our Lord Jesus comes with all his saints.[b]
The God of the Living
27 Some of the Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him. 28 They asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.[a] 29 So there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless. 30 The second took her as a wife,[b] 31 and so did the third, and in the same way the seven died and left no children. 32 Finally the woman died too. 33 So in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”
34 Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to experience that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 In fact, they cannot die any more, for they are like the angels. They are sons of God, because they are sons of the resurrection.
37 “Even Moses showed in the account about the burning bush that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[c] 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”
39 Some of the experts in the law answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 Then they no longer dared to ask him anything.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.