Psalms 144

Praise the LORD, who is my strength. He trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

1Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

NoteThe King James "my strength" translates a Hebrew word that literally means "my rock", a crag or cliff used as a defensive position. The psalm piles up military images: rock, fortress, tower, shield.

2He is the one who loves me and keeps me safe. He is my fortress, my high tower, and my rescuer. He is my shield, and I trust in him. He brings my people under my rule.

2My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

Note"My goodness" in the King James is an old sense of the word, standing for a Hebrew term (chesed) meaning loyal, committed love, the faithfulness expected between parties bound by an agreement. A "high tower" was a raised stronghold, a place too high for an enemy to reach. The last line is uncertain in the manuscripts: some read "my people," others "peoples," that is, foreign nations.

3LORD, what is a human being, that you take notice of him? What is a son of man, that you even think about him?

3LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!

Note"Son of man" is a Hebrew idiom meaning simply a human being, a member of the human race. It carries no special title here; it is a poetic way of saying "a mortal" a second time.

4A person is like a puff of breath. His days are like a shadow that slides past and is gone.

4Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "a puff of breath" (hebel) means a vapor or breath, something real but weightless and instantly gone. It is the same word repeated throughout Ecclesiastes, which the King James there renders "vanity."

5Bend the sky open, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will send up smoke.

5Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

NoteAncient Hebrew poetry pictured the sky as a canopy God could bend down and step through, and pictured his arrival as a mountain storm. Mountains "smoking" recalls the descriptions of Mount Sinai wrapped in smoke.

6Throw out your lightning and scatter them. Shoot your arrows and drive them away.

6Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

NoteLightning as God's arrows was standard poetic imagery across the ancient Near East for a storm-god going to battle.

7Reach down your hand from above. Set me free and pull me out of the deep waters, out of the grip of foreigners.

7Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

Note"Deep waters" is a stock image in the Psalms for overwhelming, life-threatening danger, like drowning, not a literal flood. "Strange children" in the King James does not mean odd children: the Hebrew is "sons of a foreigner," that is, foreigners or outsiders.

8Their mouths speak lies, and their right hands are raised in false promises.

8Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

NoteA person raised the right hand when swearing an oath or sealing an agreement. A "right hand of falsehood" means their sworn word cannot be trusted: they make promises they do not intend to keep.

9I will sing a new song to you, God. I will make music to you on a harp with ten strings.

9I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

Note"A new song" is a recurring phrase in the Psalms for a fresh song composed in response to a fresh rescue. The King James "psaltery" is an old word for a stringed instrument (Hebrew nevel); the Hebrew here may name two instruments, or one instrument with ten strings.

10He is the one who gives victory to kings. He rescues David his servant from the deadly sword.

10It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.

NoteThe psalm is headed as David's, so the speaker naming "David his servant" is either the king speaking of himself in the third person, a normal way for a king to refer to himself, or a later writer praying in David's name.

11Set me free and rescue me from the grip of foreigners. Their mouths speak lies, and their right hands are raised in false promises.

11Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:

12Then our sons will be like young plants that grow up strong, and our daughters like corner pillars carved to fit a palace.

12That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:

NoteCorner pillars were the decorated columns at the corners of a grand building, the most conspicuous and carefully carved stonework in it. Comparing daughters to them is a compliment about stature and beauty, not about being fixed in place.

13Our storehouses will be full, holding every kind of food. Our flocks will have thousands, even tens of thousands of young, out in our fields.

13That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:

NoteThe King James "garners" means granaries or storehouses. The King James "in our streets" and the modern "in our fields" render one Hebrew word meaning the open ground outside, either pasture land or the open spaces of a town.

14Our oxen will be strong enough to carry heavy loads. No wall will be broken through, no one will be carried away, and there will be no cry of grief in our streets.

14That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.

Note"No breaking in" refers to a breach smashed through a city wall by attackers. "Going out" most likely means being marched out as prisoners of war, though it can also be read as a miscarriage among the herds or a surrender; the Hebrew is compressed and disputed.

15Happy are the people for whom this is true. Yes, happy are the people whose God is the LORD.

15Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Note"Happy" here translates a Hebrew word (ashrei) used to congratulate someone on an enviable position, closer to "fortunate are those people" than to a description of their mood.