Psalms 18:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
a craggy rock · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
fortress
וּמְצוּדָתִ֗יu.me.tzu.da.Ti
H4686
a net · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
deliverer
וּמְפַ֫לְטִ֥יu.me.Fal.Ti
H6403
to slip out · conjunction + verb, piel active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
God
אֵלִ֣י'e.Li
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
strength
צ֭וּרִיTzu.ri
H6697
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
trust
אֶֽחֱסֶה'e.che.seh-
H2620
to flee for protection · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
buckler
מָֽגִנִּ֥יma.gi.Ni
H4043
a shield (i.e. the small one or buckler) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 1st person masculine singular
horn
וְקֶֽרֶןve.ke.ren-
H7161
a horn (as projecting) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
salvation
יִ֝שְׁעִ֗יyish.'I
H3468
liberty · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
tower
מִשְׂגַּבִּֽיmis.ga.Bi
H4869
defence · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 144:2 My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
Psalms 62:7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalms 91:2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psalms 62:2 He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.
2 Samuel 22:3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou saves…
Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 18:1-19
The title gives us the occasion of penning this psalm; we had it before (Sa2 22:1), only here we are told that the psalm was delivered to the chief musician, or precentor, in the temple-songs. Note, The private compositions of good men, designed by them for their own use, may be serviceable to the public, that others may not only borrow light from their candle, but heat from their fire. Examples sometimes teach better than rules. And David is here called the servant of the Lord, as Moses was, not only as every good man is God's servant, but because, with his sceptre, with his sword, and with his pen, he greatly promoted the interests of God's kingdom in Israel. It was more his honour that he…
The various terms used describe God as an object of the most implicit and reliable trust.
rock--literally, "a cleft rock," for concealment.
strength--a firm, immovable rock.
horn of my salvation--The horn, as the means of attack or defense of some of the strongest animals, is a frequent emblem of power or strength efficiently exercised (compare Deu 33:17; Luk 1:69).
tower--literally, "high place," beyond reach of danger.
John Gill on Psalms 18:2
The Lord is my rock,.... To whom the saints have recourse for shelter and safety, for supply, support, and divine refreshment; and in whom they are secure, and on whom they build their hopes of eternal life and happiness, and so are safe from all enemies, and from all danger. Christ is called a Rock on all these accounts, Psalm 61:2;
and my fortress; or garrison; so the saints are kept in and by the power of God as in a garrison, 1 Peter 1:5;
and my deliverer: out of all afflictions, and from all temptations, and out of the hands of all enemies; from a body of sin and death at last, and from wrath to come;
my God; the strong and mighty One, who is able to save, and who is the covenant God…
Christ is the rock. When David built his own house on the rock, he was like the wise man. … In such a way, he is made superior to all his enemies. He becomes faithful, not by hope or by training but by the help of God, established in all types of defenses and in the horn of salvation.
"O Lord, My stay, and My refuge, and My deliverer" [Psalm 18:2]. O Lord, who hast stayed Me, because I sought refuge with You: and I sought refuge, because You have delivered Me. "My God is My helper; and I will hope in Him." My God, who hast first afforded me the help of Your call, that I might be able to hope in You. "My defender, and the horn of My salvation, and My redeemer." My defender, because I have not leant upon Myself, lifting up as it were the horn of pride against You; but have found You a horn indeed, that is, the sure height of salvation: and that I might find it, You redeemed Me.
Unless one has a horn with which to rout his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. That is why the Lord is described as a horn to those who believe in him; and it was with the horns of the cross that he routed his enemies. On the cross he confounded the devil and his entire army. To be sure, Christ was crucified in his body, but on the cross, it was he who was crucifying there the devils. It was not a cross; it was a symbol of triumph, a banner of victory. His whole purpose in mounting the cross was to lift us up from earth. I think the cross of the Savior was the ladder that Jacob saw. On that ladder, angels were descending and ascending; on that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews were descending and the Gentiles ascending.… Others may have many horns; I have only one. "But as for me, God forbid that I shall glory save in the cross of the Lord, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Blessing · SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD — SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD
Psalm 18:1-2
1. And he said, I will affectionately love thee, [385] O Jehovah, my strength. 2. Jehovah is my rock, [386] a my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, I will trust in him my shield, and the horn [387] of my salvation, my refuge.
1. And he said, etc. I will not stop to examine too minutely the syllables, or the few words, in which this psalm differs from the song which is recorded in the twenty-second chapter of the Second Book of Samuel. When, however, we meet with any important difference, we shall advert to it in the proper place; and we find one in the remarkable sentence with which this psalm commences, I will love thee affectionately, O Jehovah, my strength, which…
(Heb.: 18:2-4) The poet opens with a number of endearing names for God, in which he gratefully comprehends the results of long and varied experience. So far as regards the parallelism of the members, a monostich forms the beginning of this Psalm, as in Psa 16:1-11; Psa 23:1-6; Ps 25 and many others. Nevertheless the matter assumes a somewhat different aspect, if Psa 18:3 is not, with Maurer, Hengstenberg and Hupfeld, taken as two predicate clauses (Jahve is..., my God is...), but as a simple vocative-a rendering which alone corresponds to the intensity with which this greatest of the Davidic hymns opens-God being invoked by ה, ה, אלי, and each of these names being followed by a predicative e…
A shield is an image of protection, salvation, and victory (7:10; 18:2, 30, 35; 84:11; 91:4; 115:9, 10, 11; 119:114; 144:2). It evokes a response of trust, waiting, and godly confidence.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 18:2
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
"The Lord is my rock and my fortress." Dwelling among the crags and mountain fastnesses of Judea David had escaped the malice of Saul, and here he compares his God to such a place of concealment and security. Believers are often hidden in their God from the strife of tongues and the fury of the storm of trouble. The clefts of the Rock of Ages are safe abodes. "My deliverer, " interposing in my hour of peril. When almost captured the Lord's people are rescued from the hand of the mighty by him who is mightier still. This title of "del…
Towers · Illustrative of: God as the protector of his people — Illustrative of: God as the protector of his people
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
