Psalms 144:2–11

²And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

³The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

²The 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.

²I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

⁹Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.

¹⁹O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

⁴⁷It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.

⁹Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

⁴⁰For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.

⁴¹Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.

⁴²They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

⁴³Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.

⁴⁴Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.

⁴⁵Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.

⁴⁶Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.

⁴⁷The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.

⁴⁸It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me,

³Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

¹⁷What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

⁶But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

¹⁴What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

³Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

⁴His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

¹¹My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

²³I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

⁵Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

⁶Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

¹⁴For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

⁸¶ Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

¹⁵For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

²Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

¹³But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

¹MAN that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

²He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

³And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

¹⁵As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

¹⁶For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

¹¹When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

⁹Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

⁴⁷Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

¹⁹How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

³²He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

¹⁸And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

³God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

⁴And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

⁵Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.

⁶He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.

¹⁸For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

¹OH that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

²As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

³The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

⁴He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

⁵The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

⁶Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

²³I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

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

¹⁴Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

⁴²I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

¹²And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

¹³Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.

¹⁴The Lord thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.

¹⁵And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.

¹²Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

⁵Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

¹²If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

¹³He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.

¹⁷The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

¹⁸The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

¹⁶He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

¹SAVE me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

²I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

³For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.

¹⁵And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

¹⁷He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

⁴³He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

³The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.

⁴The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

¹⁵And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

¹⁶And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

¹¹¶ Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

²And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.

¹¹Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:

¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

¹⁵Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

²They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

²⁰He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

⁶And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

⁴They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

⁵They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

⁶Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

³⁰And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

²⁶Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

²For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

³They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

¹⁶And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

¹⁷And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

²Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

³Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

³And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

¹PRAISE ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.

³Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

⁴Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

⁵Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

¹SING aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

²Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

³Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

¹MOREOVER David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was:

²Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.

³Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the Lord.

⁴Of Heman: the sons of Heman; Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth:

⁵All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

⁶All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king’s order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.

²Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

³I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

¹O SING unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.

³And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

⁹And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

¹⁰And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

⁵⁰Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

⁷O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

¹⁶There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

¹⁷An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

¹⁸Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

⁴⁵Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

⁴⁶This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

¹⁶And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.

¹⁹And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.

²⁰And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

²¹And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.

²²¶ And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.

²³And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

²⁴And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.

²⁵And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.

⁶Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.

⁷And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.

⁸And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass.

⁹¶ When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer,

¹⁰Then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass:

¹¹Which also king David did dedicate unto the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued;

¹²Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

¹³And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.

¹⁴¶ And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.

¹THUS saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

²I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

³And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

⁴For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

⁵¶ I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

⁶That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.

¹NOW Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

⁶And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

⁷And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

⁸And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

⁷Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

⁸Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

²⁰He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

²They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

⁶¶ And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men.

⁷And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.

⁸And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ish-tob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.

⁹When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians:

¹⁰And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon.

¹¹And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee.

¹²Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good.

¹³And Joab drew nigh, and the people that were with him, unto the battle against the Syrians: and they fled before him.

¹⁴And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.

¹⁵¶ And when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered themselves together.

¹⁶And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.

¹⁷And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.

¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.

¹⁹And when all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.

⁵¶ And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.

⁶And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.

⁷And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:

⁸The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.

⁹¶ Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.

¹⁰And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?

¹¹And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him.

¹²It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day.

¹³And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill’s side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.

¹⁴And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.

¹MOREOVER Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:

²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:

³And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

⁴And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.

⁵Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he saith.

⁶And when Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner: shall we do after his saying? if not; speak thou.

⁷And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath given is not good at this time.

⁸For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people.

⁹Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

¹⁰And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt: for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and they which be with him are valiant men.

¹¹Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

¹²So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground: and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one.

¹³Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there.

¹⁴And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.