Psalm 17 (18)

For the End; by the child of the Lord, David; what things he spoke to the Lord, even the words of this ode, in the day the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul;
Thus he said:
I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my foundation, my refuge, my deliverer;
My God is my helper, on Him I will hope, My champion, the horn of my
Salvation, and my protector.
I will call upon the Lord and praise Him, And I shall be saved from my enemies. The anguish of death surrounded me;
The floods of the lawless troubled me
Greatly;
The anguish of Hades encircled me;
The snares of death ran me down.
In my affliction I called upon the Lord,
And I cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His holy temple,
And my cry shall come before Him,
Into His ears.
Then the earth was shaken and was trembling;
And the foundations of mountains
Were stirred up.
And they were shaken, because God
Was angry with them.
Smoke ascended in His wrath,
And burst into flame from His face;
Coals were kindled by Him.
He bowed heaven and descended,
And darkness was under His feet.
And He rode upon the cherubim, and
flew;
He flew upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness His hiding place;
His tabernacle was around Him,
Dark water in the clouds of the sky.
Because of the brightness before Him,
The clouds,
The hail and the fiery coals passed
Through.
The Lord thundered from heaven,
The Most High gave forth his voice;
And He sent forth His arrows, and
Scattered them;
And He multiplied lightning, and
Threw them into utter confusion.
Then the springs of the waters were
seen,
And the foundations of the world were
Uncovered
By Your rebuke, O Lord,
By the breathing of the breath of Your wrath.
He sent from on high, and He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
He will deliver me from my strong
Enemies,
And from those who hate me,
Because they were too strong for me.
They overran me in the day of my
Misfortune,
But the Lord became my support,
And He led me into a wide place;
He will deliver me, because He willed
It for me.
He will deliver me from my strong
Enemies
And from those who hate me.
The Lord will reward me according to
My righteousness;
And according to the purity of my
Hands He will recompense me,
Because I kept the ways of the Lord
And did not act impiously against my
God;
For all His judgments are before me,
And I did not remove His ordinances
From me.
I will also be blameless before Him,
And I will keep myself from my lawlessness.
The Lord will reward me according to my righteousness,
According to the purity of my hands before His eyes.
With the holy You will be holy;
And with the innocent man You will be innocent;
And with the elect You will be elect;
And with the crooked You will be crooked.
For You will save a humble people,
And You will humble the eyes of the arrogant.
For you will light my lamp, O Lord;
O my God, You will enlighten my
Darkness.
For In You I shall be delivered from
Ordeals,
And in my God I shall leap over a
Wall.
My God, His way is blameless;
The teachings of the Lord are tried by
Fire;
He is the shield of all who set their hope on Him.
For who is God besides the Lord?
And who is God besides our God?
It is God who guess me with power,
And He made my way blameless;
Who makes my feet like a deer
And sets me on high places;
Who teaches my hands to make war;
And you make my arms a bronze bow;
And you gave me the shield of Your salvation;
And Your right hand supported me;
And Your instruction restored me to
The end;
And Your instruction will teach me.
You widened my steps under me,
And my footsteps were not feeble.
I shall pursue my enemies and
Overtake them;
And I shall not turn back until they
Faint;
I shall wound them until they cannot
Stand;
They shall fall under my feet.
For You armed me with strength for
War;
You entangled under my feet all who
Rose up against me,
And You gave me the back of my enemies;
And You destroyed all who hate me.
They cried out, but there was none to
Save them;
Even to the Lord, but He did not
Answer them.
I will grind them fine, like the dust that blows in the wind;
I will smooth them out, like mud in the
Streets.
Deliver me from the contradictions of
The people;
You will establish me as the head of the Gentiles;
A people I never knew served me;
The moment they heard, they obeyed
Me;
Sons who are strangers lied to me;
Sons who are strangers became old,
And they became lame because of
Their beaten path.
The Lord lives, and blessed is my
God.
Let the salvation of my God be
Exalted,
The God who vindicates me,
And who subdued the people under
Me,
My deliverer from the rage of my
enemies;
Because of those who rise up against me, You will exalt me;
You will deliver me from the
Unrighteous man.
Therefore I will give thanks to You
Among the Gentiles, O Lord,
And sing to Your name,
He who magnifies the salvation of His king
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his seed forever.”

Commentary from the Orthodox Study Bible

Ps 17 is set in the historical background of David’s deliverance from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul (1Kg 19-31). However, this psalm is forecasting and magnifying the salvation of the Father’s King, who is called Christ (His anointed) and David, for He is the Son of David. The seed of the Son of David is the Church.

Comments

I pray that God delivers us from whatever we are going through, that God’s right hand supports us, and His instruction restores us. Have mercy, Lord, and deliver us. Thank you, Lord!