Psalms 144

Blessed be the Lord, my rock

Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.a ²He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.b ³Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them?c

⁴They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow. ⁵Part your heavens, Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. ⁶Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them.

⁷Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners ⁸whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. ⁹I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, ¹⁰to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers his servant David. From the deadly sword ¹¹deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.

¹²Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.d ¹³Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; ¹⁴our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets.

¹⁵Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.e