Psalm 18:1-26

Christian Standard Bible

⁴ The ropes of death were wrapped around me;
the torrents of destruction terrified me.^(G)
5 The ropes of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.^(H)
6 I called to the Lord in my distress,
and I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,^(I)
and my cry to him reached his ears.^(J)

⁷ Then the earth shook and quaked;
the foundations of the mountains trembled;^(K)
they shook because he burned with anger.
⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils,
and consuming fire came from his mouth;
coals were set ablaze by it.^[a](L)
9 He bent the heavens and came down,^(M)
total darkness beneath his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub and flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.^(N)
11 He made darkness his hiding place,
dark storm clouds his canopy around him.^(O)
12 From the radiance of his presence,^(P)
his clouds swept onward with hail and blazing coals.
¹³ The Lord thundered from^[b] heaven;
the Most High made his voice heard.^[c](Q)
14 He shot his arrows and scattered them;
he hurled^[d] lightning bolts and routed them.^(R)
15 The depths of the sea became visible,
the foundations of the world were exposed,
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.^(S)

¹⁶ He reached down from on high
and took hold of me;
he pulled me out of deep water.^(T)
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me.^(U)
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.^(V)
19 He brought me out to a spacious place;^(W)
he rescued me because he delighted in me.^(X)

²⁰ The Lord rewarded me
according to my righteousness;^(Y)
he repaid me
according to the cleanness of my hands.^(Z)
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not turned from my God to wickedness.^(AA)
22 Indeed, I let all his ordinances guide me^[e]
and have not disregarded his statutes.^(AB)
23 I was blameless toward him^(AC)
and kept myself from my iniquity.
²⁴ So the Lord repaid me
according to my righteousness,^(AD)
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.^(AE)

²⁵ With the faithful
you prove yourself faithful,
with the blameless
you prove yourself blameless,
²⁶ with the pure
you prove yourself pure,
but with the crooked
you prove yourself shrewd.^(AF)