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Psalms

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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 Ezekiel 13:13 and Psalm 18:12

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Ezekiel 13 presents God as a storm deity whose anger breaks loose in torrents of rain, hail, and violent wind, tearing down defenses. Psalm 18 also depicts God as a storm deity, with thunder, hail, and rain used as weapons in a dramatic display.

Passages

Ezekiel 13:13

Hebrew Bible
11 Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones will fall and a violent wind will break out. 12 When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?” 13 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury. 14 I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, and you will know that I am the Lord. 15 I will vent my rage against the wall and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, “The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more—
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

Psalm 18:12

Hebrew Bible
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

"... Torrential rain is an ancient motif associated with the thunderstorm theophany (Judges 5:4, Deuteronomy 33:28, Psalm 68:9–10, 77:18, compare Psalm 18:12 / 2 Samuel 22:12, Psalm 114:8) and it is likely that what is envisaged in verses 9–10 is the gushing of water out of the earth in verse 9c (compare Psalm 114:7–8; also Joel 3:18, following the theophany of verse 16) and from above, as rain, in verse 10b (compare Judges 5:4; Psalm 68:9–10; 77:18a; “heavens dripping dew”, Deuteronomy 33:28; compare Psalm 18:12). This can be beneficent, as in Deuteronomy 33:28, Psalm 68:9–10 and probably Psalm 114:8, and indeed it is most probably rain and groundwater that are conceptualized as the “blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath” in Genesis 49:25. However, the aspect of overpowering divine manifestation is uppermost in Psalm 77:18, Judges 5:4 as indeed in Habakkuk 3:9–10, whilst the two are juxtaposed in Psalm 68:9–10. The use of thunderstorm phenomena, including precipitation, as weaponry, is less common, but occurs in Psalm 18:13–5 and (as seems likely from the parallelism) Psalm 77:18; compare Ezekiel 13:11-13 ..."
Rebecca S. Watson, “'Was your Wrath Against the Rivers?' Focusing the Debate in Habakkuk 3,” in Conversations on Canaanite and Biblical Themes: Creation, Chaos and Monotheism, ed. Rebecca Watson and Adrian Curtis (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2021), 61–77.

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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Ezekiel 13:13 and Psalm 18:12

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