To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul:
In this psalm of thanksgiving for manifold deliverances, observe, (1.) David's ardent love to God in Christ, whom he believed to be his own, in every gracious and saving relation; and by whom he had experienced his merciful, almighty, and seasonable deliverance from depths of trouble, ver. 1-19. (2.) His comfortable reflections, on the integrity which the Lord had enabled him to maintain, and on the gracious kindness of God, consequential thereupon, ver. 20-28. (3.) His thankful ascription of all the glory of his noted exploits to God, as his director and strengthener, ver. 29-42. (4.) His triumphant faith and hope, of further assistance and favour from God, to himself and to his seed for evermore, ver. 43-50.
But let me not forget Jesus, to whom Jehovah is so closely, so marvellously, so sweetly related: Jesus, who so ardently loveth his eternal Father, and for ever returns the grateful remembrance of his kindness to him, and to his chosen seed, in delivering him from distress; in raising him from the dead; in rewarding his obedience unto death, in giving him glory at his own right hand, and in rendering all nations his obedient subjects. Let me sing this new song, in the full assurance of faith, that God in Christ is my all and in all; and with a heart ravished with the consolations of Christ, and in the sweet reviews of what he hath done, what he doth, and what he will for ever do, for my soul.
1 Thee will I love, O Lord, my strength.
2 My fortress is the Lord,
My rock, and he that doth to me
deliverance afford:
My God, my strength, whom I will trust,
a buckler unto me,
The horn of my salvation,
and my high tow'r, is he.
3 Upon the Lord, who worthy is
of praises, will I cry;
And then shall I preserved be
safe from mine enemy.
4 Floods of ill men affrighted me,
death's pangs about me went;
5 Hell's sorrows me environed;
death's snares did me prevent.
6 In my distress I call'd on God,
cry to my God did I;
He from his temple heard my voice,
to his ears came my cry.
7 Th' earth, as affrighted, then did shake,
trembling upon it seiz'd:
The hills' foundations moved were,
because he was displeas'd.
8 Up from his nostrils came a smoke,
and from his mouth there came
Devouring fire, and coals by it
were turned into flame.
9 He also bowed down the heav'ns,
and thence he did descend;
And thickest clouds of darkness did
under his feet attend.
