Psalm 144
A Prayer for the Nation
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By David.
Praise
1 Blessed be the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war.
2 He shows me mercy.
He is my stronghold, my high fortress.
He is my deliverer and my shield,
so I take refuge in him.
He subdues peoples[a] under me.
Need
3 Lord, what is man that you notice him,
the son of man that you consider him?
4 Man is like a breath.[b]
His days are like a passing shadow.
Petition
5 Lord, rip open your heavens and come down.
Touch the mountains so that they smoke.
6 Send out lightning and scatter them.
Shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down your hand from on high.
Rescue me and snatch me from the mighty waters,
from the hand of foreigners 8 whose mouths speak lies,
who raise their right hands to a false oath.[c]
Praise
9 God, I will sing a new song to you.
On the ten-stringed harp I will make music to you,
10 to you who gives victory to kings,
to you who delivers David his servant from the evil sword.
Petition
11 Rescue me and snatch me from the hand of foreigners
whose mouths speak lies,
who raise their right hands to a false oath.
The Results of Victory
12 Then our sons in their youth will be like full-grown plants.
Our daughters will be like corner pillars carved to decorate a palace.
13 Our storehouses will be filled with produce of every kind.
Our flocks will increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our countryside.
14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads.
There will be no breaking through our walls,
no exile into captivity,
no cry of distress in our city squares.
15 How blessed are the people for whom this is so.
How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 144:2 Hebrew variant. The main Hebrew reading is my people.
- Psalm 144:4 Or vapor
- Psalm 144:8 Literally their right hand a right hand of falseness