The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, fthe servant of the Lord, gwho addressed the words of this hsong to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

¹I love you, O Lord, my strength.

²The Lord is my irock and my jfortress and my deliverer,

my God, my irock, in kwhom I take refuge,

my lshield, and mthe horn of my salvation, my nstronghold.

³I call upon the Lord, who is oworthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies.

⁴pThe cords of death encompassed me;

qthe torrents of destruction assailed me;1

⁵pthe cords of Sheol entangled me;

the snares of death confronted me.

⁶rIn my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help.

From his stemple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷Then the earth treeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

⁸Smoke went up from his nostrils,2

and devouring ufire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

⁹He vbowed the heavens and wcame down;

xthick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰He rode on a cherub and flew;

he came swiftly on zthe wings of the wind.

¹¹He made darkness his covering, his acanopy around him,

thick clouds bdark with water.

¹²Out of the brightness before him

chailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

¹³The Lord also dthundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his evoice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴And he sent out his farrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and grouted them.

¹⁵Then hthe channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your irebuke, O Lord,

at the blast of jthe breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He ksent from on high, he took me;

he ldrew me out of mmany waters.

¹⁷He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were ntoo mighty for me.

¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

¹⁹He brought me out into oa broad place;

he rescued me, because he pdelighted in me.

²⁰The Lord dealt with me qaccording to my righteousness;

according to rthe cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

²¹For I have skept the ways of the Lord,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²²For tall his rules3 were before me,

and his statutes I did not put away from me.

²³I was ublameless before him,

and I kept myself from my guilt.

²⁴So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵With vthe merciful you show yourself merciful;

with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

²⁶with the purified you show yourself pure;

and with wthe crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

²⁷For you save xa humble people,

but ythe haughty eyes you bring down.

²⁸For it is you who light my zlamp;

the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

²⁹For by you I can run against a troop,

and by my God I can aleap over ba wall.

³⁰This God—his way is cperfect;4

the word of the Lord dproves true;

he is ea shield for all those who ftake refuge in him.

³¹For gwho is God, but the Lord?

And who is ha rock, except our God?—

³²the God who iequipped me with strength

and made my way jblameless.

³³He made my feet like the feet of a kdeer

and set me secure on lthe heights.

³⁴He mtrains my hands for war,

so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand nsupported me,

and your ogentleness made me great.

³⁶You pgave a wide place for my steps under me,

and my feet did not slip.

³⁷I pursued my enemies and overtook them,

and did not turn back till they were consumed.

³⁸I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;

they fell under my feet.

³⁹For you equipped me with strength for the battle;

you made those who rise against me sink under me.

⁴⁰You made my enemies qturn their backs to me,5

and those who hated me I destroyed.

⁴¹rThey cried for help, but there was none to save;

they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

⁴²I beat them fine as sdust before the wind;

I cast them out like tthe mire of the streets.

⁴³You delivered me from ustrife with the people;

you made me vthe head of the nations;

wpeople whom I had not known served me.

⁴⁴As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;

xforeigners ycame cringing to me.

⁴⁵xForeigners lost heart

and zcame trembling out of their fortresses.

⁴⁶The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,

and exalted be the God of my salvation—

⁴⁷the God who gave me vengeance

and asubdued peoples under me,

⁴⁸who rescued me from my enemies;

yes, you bexalted me above those who rose against me;

you delivered me from cthe man of violence.

⁴⁹dFor this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,

and esing to your name.

⁵⁰Great fsalvation he brings to his king,

and shows steadfast love to his ganointed,

to hDavid and his offspring forever.