Of David.
David praises God for His deliverance, victory and eventual national prosperity.
Psalm 144:1-2, Rock and shield
Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield,
in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
David expresses a number of martial, military images as he regards YHWH as his "rock", "fortress", "shield", etc.. YHWH is both a refuge and a power for David. Much of this passage echoes Psalm 18:2.
Psalm 144:3-4, Breath and brief shadow
O LORD, what is man that you care for him,
the son of man that you think of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow.
"Why do you even pay attention to us?" asks David. "Our lives are so short!" (The first half of this portion echoes Psalm 8:4.)
Psalm 144:5-8, Part the heavens
Part your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
Send forth lightning and scatter [the enemies];
shoot your arrows and rout them.
Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
YHWH is asked to tilt or part the heavens, so that He can come down and intervene in human affairs. Portions of this stanza echo parts of Psalm 18:9-17. (A number of verses in this psalm overlap with phrases from Psalm 18.)
In verse 6, God is asked to "shoot" His arrows; in verse 7 He is to "reach down" His hand. In both cases, the verb is shalach (שָׁלַח, send, shoot, push away.)
Where the NIV translates "Send forth lightning," the Hebrew of verse 6 begins bə·rō·wq bā·rāq, a rippling alliteration that sounds like the crack of lighting (notes Alter.)
Psalm 144:9-11, New song of victory
I will sing a new song to you, O God;
on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
to the One who gives victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David
from the deadly sword.
Deliver me and rescue me
from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
God, who gives victory to kings, is worth worshiping with a new song and a ten-stringed lyre. It is God who delivers David, from both physical enemies and deceitful foreigners. (Psalm 33:1-3 also sings a new song with a ten-stringed lyre.)
Psalm 144:12-14, Pleasant peace
Then our sons in their youth
will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
carved to adorn a palace.
Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields;
our oxen will draw heavy loads.
There will be no breaching of walls,
no going into captivity,
no cry of distress in our streets.
The result of victory will be a pleasant time of peace, with strong young men and women (sons like strong green plants, daughters like ornate colorful pillars in the palace) and barns full of grain and seed. The flocks will be plentiful and fields full of oxen. This is the pastoral paradise of the ancient Near East, a hint of Eden.
Psalm 144:15, Abundancy from YHWH
Blessed are the people of whom this is true;
blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
The pastoral setting described earlier is the blessing of those who rely on YHWH as their God and protector.
Some Hebrew Vocabulary
First published November 29, 2025; updated November 29, 2025
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