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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 18

1 For the music director, by the Lord’s servant David, who sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord rescued him from the power of all his enemies, including Saul. He said: “I love you, Lord, my source of strength!⁠ 2 The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge.⁠ 3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. 4 The waves of death engulfed me, the currents of chaos overwhelmed me.⁠ 5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, the snares of death trapped me.⁠ 6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried out to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help. 7 The earth heaved and shook. The roots of the mountains trembled; they heaved because he was angry.⁠ 8 Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth. He hurled down fiery coals. 9 He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet. 10 He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind.⁠ 11 He shrouded himself in darkness, in thick rain clouds. 12 From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals.⁠ 13 The Lord thundered in the sky; the Most High shouted. 14 He shot his arrows and scattered them, many lightning bolts and routed them. 15 The depths of the sea were exposed; the inner regions of the world were uncovered⁠ by your battle cry, Lord, by the powerful breath from your nose.⁠ 16 He reached down from above and took hold of me; he pulled me from the surging water. 17 He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hate me, for they were too strong for me. 18 They confronted me in my day of calamity, but the Lord helped me. 19 He brought me out into a wide open place; he delivered me because he was pleased with me. 20 The Lord repaid me for my godly deeds; he rewarded my blameless behavior. 21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; I have not rebelled against my God. 22 For I am aware of all his regulations, and I do not reject his rules. 23 I was innocent before him, and kept myself from sinning. 24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; he took notice of my blameless behavior. 25 You prove to be loyal to one who is faithful; you prove to be trustworthy to one who is innocent.⁠ 26 You prove to be reliable to one who is blameless, but you prove to be deceptive to one who is perverse. 27 For you deliver oppressed people, but you bring down those who have a proud look. 28 Indeed, you light my lamp, Lord. My God illuminates the darkness around me. 29 Indeed, with your help I can charge against an army; by my God’s power I can jump over a wall. 30 The one true God acts in a faithful manner; the Lord’s promise is reliable. He is a shield to all who take shelter in him. 31 Indeed, who is God besides the Lord? Who is a protector besides our God? 32 The one true God gives me strength; he removes the obstacles in my way.⁠ 33 He gives me the agility of a deer; he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain.⁠ 34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend even the strongest bow. 35 You give me your protective shield; your right hand supports me. Your willingness to help enables me to prevail. 36 You widen my path; my feet do not slip. 37 I chase my enemies and catch them; I do not turn back until I wipe them out. 38 I beat them to death; they fall at my feet. 39 You give me strength for battle; you make my foes kneel before me. 40 You make my enemies retreat; I destroy those who hate me. 41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; they cry out to the Lord, but he does not answer them. 42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; I beat them underfoot like clay in the streets. 43 You rescue me from a hostile army. You make me a leader of nations; people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. 44 When they hear of my exploits, they submit to me. Foreigners are powerless before me. 45 Foreigners lose their courage; they shake with fear as they leave their strongholds. 46 The Lord is alive! My Protector is praiseworthy. The God who delivers me is exalted as king. 47 The one true God completely vindicates me; he makes nations submit to me. 48 He delivers me from my enemies. You snatch me away from those who attack me; you rescue me from violent men. 49 So I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord. I will sing praises to you.⁠ 50 He gives his king magnificent victories; he is faithful to his chosen ruler, to David and his descendants forever.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 9:18 and Psalm 18:12

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Exodus describes God unleashing a destructive hailstorm on Egypt. Psalm 18 uses similar language of hail and fiery coals in a battle scene, with both drawing on ancient Near Eastern traditions of storm deities that control violent storms.

Passages

Exodus 9:18

Hebrew Bible
16 But for this purpose I have allowed you to live*: to show you my strength, and so that my name may be declared in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them. 18 I am going to cause very severe hail to rain down about this time tomorrow, such hail as has never occurred in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 So now, send instructions to gather your livestock and all your possessions in the fields to a safe place. Every person or animal caught in the field and not brought into the house—the hail will come down on them, and they will die!”’” 20 Those of Pharaoh’s servants who feared the Lord’s message hurried to bring their servants and livestock into the houses,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Psalm 18:12

Hebrew Bible
8 Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth. He hurled down fiery coals. 9 He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet. 10 He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind. 11 He shrouded himself in darkness, in thick rain clouds. 12 From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals. 13 The Lord thundered in the sky; the Most High shouted. 14 He shot his arrows and scattered them, many lightning bolts and routed them.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Many aspects of the divine warrior in the poetic texts are also found in prose text, but the clearest references to the divine warrior in prose texts involve YHWH’s employment of nature or supernatural envoys against an envoy. When Joshua approached Jericho, the “general of the army of YHWH” affirmed YHWH’s presence in the upcoming battle (Joshua 5:13–15). In the campaign against the kings who attacked Gibeon, YHWH hurled “large stones from heaven” down on the Amorite armies (Joshua 10:11). Samuel experienced the help of the divine warrior when YHWH thundered (רעם) from heaven and threw the Philistines into a panic (1 Samuel 7:10). In one of David’s battles against the Philistines, YHWH commanded him to go around the back of the Philistine camp and attack them when they heard the “sound of marching” in the trees because YHWH was going ahead of them, most likely referring to a heavenly army going ahead of David’s army (2 Samuel 5:22–25) ... The plagues represented extreme phenomena, such as the hail storm being the worst Egypt had ever seen (Exodus 9:18, 24) and house invasions by the locust swarms, which the Egyptians had never seen before ..."
Charlie Trimm, "YHWH Fights for Them!": The Divine Warrior in the Exodus Narrative (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2014), 41, 193.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 9:18 and Psalm 18:12

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