Psalm 144
A Prayer for Victory and Prosperity
1 Of David.
I
Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle,
my fingers for war;
2 My safeguard and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
II
3 Lord, what is man that you take notice of him;
the son of man, that you think of him?(A)
4 Man is but a breath,
his days are like a passing shadow.(B)
5 Lord, incline your heavens and come down;
touch the mountains and make them smoke.(C)
6 Flash forth lightning and scatter my foes;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach out your hand from on high;
deliver me from the many waters;
rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.
8 Their mouths speak untruth;
their right hands are raised in lying oaths.
9 O God, a new song I will sing to you;
on a ten-stringed lyre I will play for you.(D)
10 You give victory to kings;
you delivered David your servant.(E)
From the menacing sword 11 deliver me;
rescue me from the hands of foreign foes.
Their mouths speak untruth;
their right hands are raised in lying oaths.
III
12 May our sons be like plants(F)
well nurtured from their youth,
Our daughters, like carved columns,
shapely as those of the temple.
13 May our barns be full
with every kind of store.
May our sheep increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields;
may our oxen be well fattened.
14 May there be no breach in the walls,
no exile, no outcry in our streets.(G)
15 Blessed the people so fortunate;
blessed the people whose God is the Lord.(H)
Footnotes
- Psalm 144
- 144:1–2
- 144:3
- 144:4
- 144:5–7
- 144:8b, 11b
Cross references
- 144:3 : Jb 7:17.
- 144:4 : Ps 62:10; 90:9–10; Jb 7:16; Eccl 6:12; Wis 2:5.
- 144:5 : Is 63:19.
- 144:9 : Ps 33:2–3.
- 144:10 : Ps 18:51.
- 144:12 : Ps 128:3.
- 144:14 : Is 65:19.
- 144:15 : Ps 33:12.
