Psalm 18
Adapted from a Mizmor of David
Preeminent Musician,
Superintendent of Temple Services,
Levites,
Israelites,
Worshippers of He Who Breathes Life:
Words which David sang,
Lyrics and music,
Which during the period
Between sunrise and sunset,
In the time
When the Self-Existent One
Snatched David
From the paw of his enemies
—The entirety of them—
And from She’ol.
David sang,
Deeply, I love You,
You Who Breathe Life,
My CHAZAK!
The Self-Existing One is my Stronghold,
My Security;
He is my lofty fortress of stone,
A secure and trusted place.
Eli Suri,
My EL and my Strength!
I make You my Refuge.
I flee to you for protection.
I confide in You.
As a shield of scaly dragon hide,
As an impenetrable defense,
As a mountain summit,
As the horn of Yesha, sounding,
You are my Hope!
I celebrate!
I make my boast in the Self-Existent One!
HalleluYAH!
Sing HalleluYAH!
Yasha!
Savior and Deliverer!
The One Who Delivered my life
From my foes!
The chabal of death surrounded me.
Nachal, the torrent of Belial,
Made trouble.
The chabal of She’ol besieged me.
I fell into an unavoidable trap.
I was ensnared by death.
Self-Existent One, my EL—
I shouted unto ALOHIM.
He perceived.
He harkened.
He carefully considered.
He understood my trouble.
From His spacious temple,
My crying entered
His audience chamber,
My voice came before His face.
At His displeasure,
A quaking, a shaking,
A reeling to and fro!
The earth trembled in fear.
The foundations of the mountains were disturbed.
Disquiet took them.
Violent movement gripped them.
Anger blazed in His jealousy.
An ascending smoke came before Him.
‘ish—Fire!
Hot,
Flaming.
He blew upon the embers.
Fire devoured,
Wasted, destroyed,
While the brutish
Burned among the coals.
The stretched out tent,
The bow was thrust aside.
The lofty sky was wrested away.
He descended.
Araphel was subdued
Beneath His feet.
He mounted—as on horseback—
Above the cherub,
The guardian of Eden.
ALOHIM flew with
The Ruah of heaven.
EL appointed chosek as covering.
Darkness encircled the secret place
In obscurity.
Violent transitory waters
Enveloped the firmament in vapor.
Conspicuous, shining before the cloud,
The brightness as of a clear, sunny day,
The Self-Existent One
Left His territory.
He passed through in judgment,
Hail and kindling fire.
Thunder sounded.
Through the lofty sky,
The visible arch where celestial bodies revolve,
The Self-Existent One,
YAHUAH ELYON gave proclamation,
With His voice,
Judgment, hail and coals of fire.
As an archer, EL let go His arrows.
He released lightning as the shaft of a spear,
Scattering the adversary
In noisy confusion.
They were dashed to pieces
And consumed.
Behold how the foundations of water
Lay uncovered!
Observe now, if you have vision,
Regard how the rebuke of YAHUAH has done this.
The Ruah, Breath of YAH,
With an angry, vital blast from the nostrils
Has left the foundations of the inhabited world bare.
YAHUAH, the Self-Existent One,
Stretched out
From His high place.
He seized hold.
He accepted me.
He drew me forth from great waters,
Waters more numerous than could be counted.
He delivered me from my haters,
My adversary who had dealt harshly with me.
YAH confronted my foe.
At the time between sunrise and sunset,
When calamity came,
When disaster struck,
When distress overcame me,
YAHUAH supported me.
Yasha!
Come forth into a large, open space!
Invigorated,
YAH took me away like plunder.
He equipped me
Because He delighted in me.
YAHUAH Tsedeq
Has dealt bountifully with me.
He repaid my lost wages.
He recompensed fully,
Because He found me innocent.
He turned back,
He reversed my fortunes.
I guard the path of YAHUAH.
I watch His manner of life.
I do not act wickedly.
I do not stand condemned.
I have not departed from ALOHIM.
Conspicuous,
His statutes are before my eyes.
His judgments are in front of my face. I do not turn aside.
I keep to His path.
Without blemish,
Complete and undefiled,
He marked my path.
Hedged with thorns,
I am protected from perversity,
Iniquity and moral evil.
YAHUAH returned me to the starting point.
Rejoicing, His restored all the enemy had taken.
He reversed my calamity.
Tsedeq (righteous), justified,
With the open hand of power,
His countenance turned toward me.
To the kind,
You are kind.
To the faithful,
You reveal Your faithfulness.
With the cleansed, shining chosen,
You manifest the brightness of Your justice.
But the false,
The crooked and perverse ones,
You twist and twine them into tortuous knots,
Which they cannot undo,
No matter how they struggle.
Yasha!
Deliver us!
The poor and humble people,
Your tribe,
Your people!
The high and exalted?
Humiliate them.
Let them be abased.
Let them be brought low.
Certainly, You give light.
You cause my lamp to shine.
YAHUAH ALOHIM
Illuminated chosek—
That twisting, flinching away from light
Into destruction, sorrow and obscurity.
ALOHIM,
EL, Almighty One,
Strong in power!
His the course of life!
His the mode of action!
His the path that is entirely sound and undefiled!
Word of YAHUAH,
Pure and refined as gold,
He is like a shield of scaly dragon hide,
An impenetrable defense.
I flee to Him for protection.
I trust in ALOHIM.
I am not saved
Except through ELOHAI.
I hang from a precipice,
YAHUAH, like a sharp rock,
Hard and compressed,
Holds me up.
EL, the Mighty One,
Encircles me.
He girds me about as a man of valor,
As a valiant one,
With strength and power.
He sets my path.
He appoints my course of life
And mode of action,
Until it is entirely sound,
Without blemish,
Upright and whole.
He adjusted my steps.
My feet became like a hart’s,
Swift and full of strength.
He appointed my service.
He raised me to a high place.
He goaded me onward
With the rod of instruction.
My hands, hands of power,
Engaged in battle,
A bow,
Red and coppery like a serpent of the desert,
Broke in my arms.
Grant me the shield of Yeshua.
Let your right hand support me.
Let your royal gentleness,
Your abundant mercies
Broaden the space before me,
So that my feet and ankles do not waver or slip.
Pursue my haters.
Follow after my foes.
Do not relent or turn back
Until they are consumed.
Pierce them through.
Wound them.
Do not let them endure or rise.
Naphal!
Fallen!
Cast down!
Shattered like idols beneath the feet.
Gird me with might.
Equip me as a man of valor.
Strengthen me for battle.
That those who rose up against me,
The rebels,
Like a woman in subjection,
Kneel at my feet,
Subdued in conquest.
My haters—the adversary—
Permit, O, Shepherd,
Leader of the flock,
Designate mine as the hand
Against the back of my fleeing foe,
The stiff-necked rebels.
And those, my haters,
Put an end to them,
Annihilate them,
Destroy them utterly.
The enemy shouted for help.
They cried for deliverance from trouble.
For them,
There is no possession of Yeshua.
There is no salvation at all
Above YAHUAH.
He did not respond.
He did not answer tunefully.
He did not speak at all.
Before the face of Ruah,
The Breath of YAH,
They were pulverized, beaten to a fine dust,
And then emptied like mire
Onto the outside street.
I slip away from controversy;
From the quarrels of my kinsmen,
I made escape.
You have appointed me head of the goyim.
I am ordained as chief of the people of the covenant,
My kinsmen.
Those I know not,
Serve as subjects.
They hear and do.
Their ears are uncovered.
They obey me;
The offspring of foreign elohim
Dissemble,
They deal falsely with me.
The offspring of foreign elohim
Languish.
They wither and fade,
They droop and fall.
Disgraced!
Tremble and fear
Inside your enclosures.
Behold, YAHUAH lives!
AHAYAH ASHER AHAYAH!
Kneel and adore Him!
He is our Rock!
Exalt the ELOHAI
Of my Yeshua!
EL,
Avenge me.
Sing forth to the people of covenant,
My kinsmen,
Declare to them
How I slipped away from my foe.
Yea, from my enemy I made escape.
Out from those who rose up against me,
The haughty man who exalted himself,
The workers of violence,
I was snatched away as plunder.
Therefore, in truth, praise Him,
You goyim.
YAHUAH, the Self-Existent One,
Sing to His name,
Play musical instruments before Him.
Magnify,
Make great
YESHUAH,
Melek, King and Messenger,
Who fashioned kindness
To His Mashiach,
To David,
To his offspring,
For further than the eye can see or perceive,
To the edge of the horizon
And beyond!
Pamela Glasgow
The Psalm Project represents my desire for a deeper understanding of the Word of YAHUAH. It is not a mechanical translation, a one-word-for-word exchange from Hebrew to English. We have those. This is is a lyrical adaptation of the many possibilities hidden in the Hebrew, arranged with consideration for the poetic and musical intent of the original writer. I pray you are as enriched in the reading as I was in the transcribing.
If you enjoyed this article, then consider becoming a Patron here at The Unexpected Cosmology! With Patron status, you will be able to access and download ALL of the Archived articles here on TUC!
