Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
David Praises the Lord for Rescuing Him.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
18 “I love You [fervently and devotedly], O Lord, my strength.”
2
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and the One who rescues me;
My God, my rock and strength in whom I trust and take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower—my stronghold.(A)
3
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
And I am saved from my enemies.(B)
20
The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness (moral character, spiritual integrity);
According to the cleanness of my hands He has rewarded me.
21
For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22
For all His ordinances were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23
I was [a]blameless before Him,
And I kept myself free from my sin.
24
Therefore the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness (moral character, spiritual integrity),
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
25
With the kind (merciful, faithful, loyal) You show Yourself kind,
With the blameless You show Yourself blameless,
26
With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the crooked You show Yourself astute.
27
For You save an afflicted and humble people,
But bring down those [arrogant fools] with haughty eyes.
28
For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine;
The Lord my God illumines my darkness.
29
For by You I can crush a troop,
And by my God I can leap over a wall.
30
As for God, His way is [b]blameless.
The word of the Lord is tested [it is perfect, it is faultless];
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
31
For who is God, but the Lord?
Or who is a rock, except our God,
32
The God who encircles me with strength
And makes my way blameless?
18
“You were unmindful of the Rock who bore you,
And you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19
“The Lord saw it, and rejected them,
Out of indignation with His sons and His daughters.
20
“Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.
28
“For they are a nation devoid of counsel,
And there is no understanding in them.
29
“O that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they could discern their future and ultimate fate!
30
“How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And the Lord had given them up?
31
“For their rock is not like our Rock,
Even our enemies themselves judge this.
32
“For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of poison,
Their clusters, bitter.
33
“Their wine is the venom of serpents,
And the deadly poison of vipers.
34
‘Is it not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up in My treasuries?
35
‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,
In due time their foot will slip;
For the day of their disaster is at hand,
And their doom hurries to meet them.’
36
“For the Lord will vindicate His people,
And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their strength (hand) is gone,
And none remains, whether bond or free.
37
“And He will say, ‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they took refuge?
38
‘Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you,
Let them be your hiding place!
39
‘See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
It is I who put to death and I who give life.
I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from [the power of] My hand.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?(A) 35 Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? 36 For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.