Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 18
For the worship leader. A song of David, the Eternal One’s servant, who addressed these words to the Eternal after He had rescued him from Saul and his other enemies.
This Davidic psalm is also found in 2 Samuel 22. It expresses gratitude to God for saving him.
1 I love You, Eternal One, source of my power.
2 The Eternal is my rock, my fortress, and my salvation;
He is my True God, the stronghold in which I hide,
my strong shield, the horn that calls forth help, and my tall-walled tower.
3 I call out to the Eternal, who is worthy to be praised—
that’s how I will be rescued from my enemies.
20 The Eternal One responded to me according to my goodness;
I kept my hands clean, and He blessed me.
21 I kept the ways of the Eternal
and have not walked away from my True God in wickedness.
22 All His laws were there before me,
and I did not push His statutes away.
23 I was blameless before Him;
I kept myself from guilt and shame.
24 That’s why the Eternal has rewarded me for my right living;
He’s rewarded me because He saw my hands were clean.
25 You are loyal to those who are loyal;
with the innocent, You prove to be innocent;
26 With the clean, You prove to be clean;
and with the twisted, You make Yourself contrary.
27 For You rescue humble people,
but You bring the proud back in line.
28 You are the lamp who lights my way;
the Eternal, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 With Your help, I can conquer an army;
I can leap over walls with a helping hand from You.
30 Everything God does is perfect;
the promise of the Eternal rings true;
He stands as a shield for all who hide in Him.
31 Who is the True God except the Eternal?
Who stands like a rock except our God?
32 The True God who encircled me with strength
and made my pathway straight.
18 You ignored the Rock who bore you
and forgot the God who gave birth to you.
Earlier Moses has described the Eternal One as Israel’s “Father” (verse 6). Now he uses the image of a mother going into labor and giving birth to describe the Eternal One’s tender affection and sacrificial love for the nation.
19 Moses: The Eternal saw this and rejected them
because His sons and daughters had made Him so angry.
20 Eternal One: I won’t look at them when they pray;
I’ll just watch and see what happens to them
Because they’re a perverse generation,
children who are unfaithful.
28 Moses: They’re a nation with no sense—
they have no understanding.
29 If only they were wise and understood this
and realized what was going to happen to them!
30 How could one of their enemies pursue a thousand of them,
and two of their enemies make ten thousand of them run away,
Unless their Rock had abandoned them,
unless the Eternal had handed them over?
31 It’s not because their rock is anything like our Rock—
even our enemies admit this!
32 No, it’s because their vine is grafted from the vines of Sodom,
from the terraces of Gomorrah:
It grows poisonous grapes in bitter clusters
33 and makes wine that’s snake venom and deadly cobra poison.
34 Eternal One: Haven’t I been saving this judgment,
sealing it away in My storehouse?
35 Revenge is Mine. I will settle all scores![a]
Soon they’ll stumble because the day of disaster is almost here,
And their doom is coming quickly!
36 Moses: The Eternal will judge His people[b]
and have mercy on His servants
When He sees they have no strength left
and they’re all gone, both slave and free.
37 Then He’ll say about Israel, “Now where are their gods,
the rocks where they took shelter,
38 The gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine they offered?
Let them get up and help you, Israel!
Let them protect you!”
39 Eternal One: Now do you see that I am the One,
and there is no other God besides Me?
I have power over life and death;
I wound, and I heal;
no one can resist My power!
Paul says that God’s mysterious plan for the ages is being revealed as the number of outsiders swells in the churches and as a part of Israel is hardened, at least for a time. But let’s not forget that hardening is not God’s unilateral action. Whatever hardening takes place happens first on our side before God reluctantly agrees. That part of Israel now hardened has already rejected God’s Anointed. Yet when the full complement of non-Jewish outsiders enters God’s kingdom, “all Israel will be saved.” But clearly “all Israel” can’t mean every last Jew, because Paul has already shown that not every son or daughter of Abraham is an heir to the promise.
33 We cannot wrap our minds around God’s wisdom and knowledge! Its depths can never be measured! We cannot understand His judgments or explain the mysterious ways that He works! For,
34 Who can fathom the mind of the Lord?
Or who can claim to be His advisor?[a]
35 Or,
Who can give to God in advance
so that God must pay him back?[b]
36 For all that exists originates in Him, comes through Him, and is moving toward Him; so give Him the glory forever. Amen.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.