Psalm Eighteen

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

In the margin, it says, “To the chief musician…David spoke the words of this song when the Lord gave him deliverance from all his enemies, including Saul.”

Many of the Psalms were actually sung, accompanied by music.  David himself played the harp.

When he was young, David had entertained King Saul with David’s music.

Here is Psalm 18 from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, (Amazon.com)

___Psalm 18

1 I will love you, O Lord, my strength.

2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I'll trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

3 I'll call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; by this I'll be saved from my enemies.

4 The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

5 The sorrows of hell surrounded me, the traps of death went before me.

6 In my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God, he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was angry.

8 A smoke went up from his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured, coals were kindled by it.

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

10 And he rode on a cherub and flew, yes, he flew on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion around him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

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

14 Yes, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings, and struck them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your reprimand, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

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

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my anchor.

19 He also brought me out into a large place, he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, he has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

21 For I've kept the ways of the Lord, and haven't wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his judgments were before me, and I didn't put away his statutes from me.

23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from my sin.

24 Therefore the Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25 With the merciful you'll show yourself merciful, with an upright man you'll show yourself upright,

26 With the pure you'll show yourself pure, and with the perverse you will show yourself perverse.

27 For you'll save the afflicted people, but will bring down high looks.

28 For you'll light my candle, the Lord my God will illuminate my darkness.

29 For by you I've run through a troop, and by my God I've jumped over a wall.

30 As for God, his way is perfect, the word of the Lord is tested, he is a shield to all of those who trust in him.

31 For who is God except the Lord?  Or who is a rock except our God?

32 It is God that clothes me with strength, and makes my way perfect.

33 He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me on my high places.

34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms.

35 You've also given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand has supported me, and your gentleness has made me great.

36 You've enlarged my steps under me, so that my feet didn't slip.

37 I've pursued my enemies, and overtaken them, nor did I turn back 'til they were consumed.

38 I've wounded them so that they weren't able to rise, they've fallen under my feet.

39 For you've girded me with strength for the battle, you've subdued under me those who rose up against me.

40 You've also given me the necks of my enemies, so I could destroy those who hate me.

41 They shouted, but there was no one to save them, to the Lord, but he didn't answer them.

42 Then I beat them as small as the dust before the wind, I threw them out like the dirt in the streets.

43 You've given me deliverance from the strivings of the people, and you've made me the head of the heathen, a people whom I haven't known shall serve me.

44 As soon as they hear of me, they'll obey me, the strangers shall submit themselves to me.

45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.

46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.

48 He delivers me from my enemies, yes, you lift me up above those that rise up against me, you've given me deliverance from the violent man.

49 Therefore I'll give thanks to you, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises to your name.

50 He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his descendants always increasingly.

Chapter 2

Vs 1-3, Words of worship and praise to the Lord.

Vs 4,5, Some of the problems that David had had.

Vs 6-17, David gives glory to God for the deliverance the Lord has provided for David.

Vs 19, The Lord brought David forth also into a large place.  The Lord did that for David, but God is no respecter of persons.  He’ll do that for you and me.  Remind the Lord of His promises, respectfully, in prayer and worship.

Vs 22, Keep God’s word before you.

Vs 25, If you’re merciful, the Lord will show mercy to you.

Vs 27, The Lord saves the afflicted, but brings down the proud.

Vs 28, The Lord gives us light in darkness.

Vs 29, The Lord caused David to run through a troop, which is a group of soldiers.

Back in 2009, it was said that the President was sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.  No he wasn’t.  He was sending 30,000 more soldiers, or soldiers and Marines.

The word troop has been corrupted over the years.

Vs 30, God’s way is perfect.  His words are bucklers or shields to all who trust in Him.

Vs 32, God clothes us with strength, and makes our way perfect.

Vs 33, He makes our feet like a deer’s feet , and sets us on our high places.

Vs 34, He teaches our hands to war, and he would do that for the Ukrainians, if they would turn to him.

Vs 35, God’s gentleness has made us great.

Vs 37, God gives us the victory over our enemies.

Vs 42, God’s people beat their enemies as small as the dust.

Vs 43, A people that have not known you will serve you if you stay right with God.

Vs 46-50, More praise for the Lord, and promise of deliverance.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.