1 BY DAVID. Blessed [is] YHWH my Rock, || Who is teaching My hands for war, || My fingers for battle. 2 My kind one, and my bulwark, || My tower, and my deliverer, || My shield, and in whom I have trusted, || Who is subduing my people under me! 3 YHWH, what [is] man that You know him? The son of man, that You esteem him? 4 Man has been like a breath, || His days [are] as a shadow passing by. 5 YHWH, incline Your heavens and come down, || Strike against mountains, and they smoke. 6 Send forth lightning, and scatter them, || Send forth Your arrows, and trouble them, 7 Send forth Your hand from on high, || Free me, and deliver me from many waters, || From the hand of sons of a stranger, 8 Because their mouth has spoken vanity, || And their right hand [is] a right hand of falsehood. 9 O God, I sing to You a new song, || I sing praise to You on a stringed instrument of ten strings. 10 Who is giving deliverance to kings, || Who is freeing His servant David from the sword of evil. 11 Free me, and deliver me || From the hand of sons of a stranger, || Because their mouth has spoken vanity, || And their right hand [is] a right hand of falsehood, 12 Because our sons [are] as plants, || Becoming great in their youth, || Our daughters as hewn stones, || Polished—the likeness of a palace, 13 Our granaries [are] full, bringing out from kind to kind, || Our flocks are bringing forth thousands, || Ten thousands in our out-places, 14 Our oxen are carrying, there is no breach, || And there is no outgoing, || And there is no crying in our broad places. 15 O the blessedness of the people that is thus, || O the blessedness of the people whose God [is] YHWH!
Psalms · Literal Standard Version
Psalm 144 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (15)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 18:34; Psalm 18:2; 2 Samuel 22:35; Psalm 44:3–4; Ephesians 6:10–11
- 2 2 Samuel 22:2–3; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 91:2; Psalm 59:9; Psalm 18:47
- 3 Psalm 8:4; Job 7:17; Hebrews 2:6; Job 15:14; Psalm 146:3–4
- 4 Psalm 102:11; Psalm 109:23; Job 8:9; Psalm 39:5–6; Ecclesiastes 12:8
- 5 Psalm 104:32; Psalm 18:9; Habakkuk 3:3–6; Exodus 19:18; Isaiah 64:1–2
- 6 Deuteronomy 32:23; Psalm 18:13–14; Deuteronomy 32:42; Psalm 21:12; Psalm 45:5
- 7 Psalm 69:1–2; Psalm 18:16; Psalm 54:3; Revelation 17:15; Matthew 27:43
- 8 Psalm 12:2; Psalm 41:6; Isaiah 44:20; Psalm 62:4; Matthew 5:30
- 9 Psalm 33:2–3; Psalm 40:3; Psalm 150:3–5; Psalm 149:1; Psalm 81:1–3
- 10 Psalm 18:50; Psalm 140:7; Psalm 33:16–18; 2 Samuel 5:19–25; 2 Samuel 21:16–17
- 11 Psalm 144:7–8; Isaiah 44:20; Psalm 12:2; 2 Samuel 17:1–14; 2 Samuel 10:6–19
- 12 Psalm 128:3; 1 Peter 3:3–6; Isaiah 44:3–5; Psalm 115:14–15; Job 42:15
- 13 Deuteronomy 7:13–14; Deuteronomy 28:8; Deuteronomy 28:4; Leviticus 26:10; Deuteronomy 8:3
- 14 Zechariah 8:3–5; Deuteronomy 28:7; Judges 6:6; 1 Samuel 13:17–23; Jeremiah 13:17–19
- 15 Psalm 33:12; Ephesians 1:3; Psalm 146:5; Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 65:4
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
The title of the Psalm is, "To David himself, when his son was pursuing him." We know from the Books of Kings that this happened:...but we must recognise here another David, truly "strong in hand," which is the explanation of David, even our Lord Jesus Christ. For all those events of past time were figures of things to come.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
And so do men live in opposition to the three and seven, that psaltery "of ten strings," Thy ten commandments, O God most high and most sweet.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
And another of the Prophets entreated, saying, Bow the heavens, O Lord and come down.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
19. And Thou sendedst Thine hand from above, and drewest my soul out of that profound darkness, when my mother, Thy faithful one, wept to thee on my behalf more than mothers are wont to weep the bodily death of their children.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
O Lord, Lord, who hast bowed the heavens and come down, touched the mountains and they did smoke, by what means didst Thou convey Thyself into that bosom?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)