40You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,
         And I destroyed those who hated me.

41They cried for help, but there was none to save,
         Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.

42Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind;
         I emptied them out as the mire of the streets.

43You have delivered me from the contentions of the people;
         You have placed me as head of the nations;
         A people whom I have not known serve me.

44As soon as they hear, they obey me;
         Foreigners submit to me.

45Foreigners fade away,
         And come trembling out of their fortresses.

46The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock;
         And exalted be the God of my salvation,

47The God who executes vengeance for me,
         And subdues peoples under me.

48He delivers me from my enemies;
         Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me;
         You rescue me from the violent man.

49Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, O LORD,
         And I will sing praises to Your name.

50He gives great deliverance to His king,
         And shows lovingkindness to His anointed,
         To David and his descendants forever.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
You armed me with strength for battle. You made my opponents bow at my feet.

King James Bible
For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me.

Darby Bible Translation
And thou girdedst me with strength to battle; thou didst subdue under me those that rose up against me.

English Revised Version
For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

Webster's Bible Translation
For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.

World English Bible
For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

Young's Literal Translation
And Thou girdest me with strength for battle, Causest my withstanders to bow under me.

Cross References

1 Samuel 2:4 "The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength.

Psalm 18:32 The God who girds me with strength And makes my way blameless?

Psalm 18:47 The God who executes vengeance for me, And subdues peoples under me.

Psalm 144:2 My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

Isaiah 45:5 "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me;

Jeremiah 46:15 "Why have your mighty ones become prostrate? They do not stand because the LORD has thrust them down.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 29-50

In these verses,

I. David looks back, with thankfulness, upon the great things which God had done for him. He had not only wrought deliverance for him, but had given him victory and success, and made him triumph over those who thought to triumph over him. When we set ourselves to praise God for one mercy we must be led by that to observe the many more with which we have been compassed about, and followed, all our days. Many things had contributed to David's advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise, in reviewing the several steps by which we have risen to our prosperity. 1. God had given him all his skill and understanding in military affairs, which he was not bred up to nor designed for, his genius leading him more to music, and poetry, and a contemplative life: He teaches my hands to war, v. 34. 2. God had given him bodily strength to go through the business and fatigue of war: God girded him with strength (v. 32, 39), to such a degree that he could break even a bow of steel, v. 34. What service God designs men for he will be sure to fit them for. 3. God had likewise given him great swiftness, not to flee from the enemies but to fly upon them (v. 33): He makes my feet like hinds' feet, v. 36. "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; but" (whereas those that take large steps are apt to tread awry) "my feet did not slip." He was so swift that he pursued his enemies and overtook them, v. 37. 4. God had made him very bold and daring in his enterprises, and given him spirit proportionable to his strength. If a troop stood in his way, he made nothing of running through them; if a wall, he made nothing of leaping over it (v. 29); if ramparts and bulwarks, he soon mounted them, and by divine assistance set his feet upon the high places of the enemy, v. 33. 5. God had protected him, and kept him safe, in the midst of the greatest perils. Many a time he put his life in his hand, and yet it was wonderfully preserved: "Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation (v. 35), and that has compassed me on every side. By that I have been delivered from the strivings of the people who aimed at my destruction (v. 43), particularly from the violent man" (v. 48), that is, Saul, who more than once threw a javelin at him. 6. God had prospered him in his designs; he it was that made his way perfect (v. 32) and it was his right hand that held him up, v. 35. 7. God had given him victory over his enemies, the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and all that fought against Israel: those especially he means, yet not excluding the house of Saul, which opposed his coming to the crown, and the partisans of Absalom and Sheba, who would have deposed him. He enlarges much upon the goodness of God to him in defeating his enemies, attributing his victories, not to his own sword or bow, nor to the valour of his mighty men, but to the favour of God: I pursued them (v. 37), I wounded them (v. 38); for thou hast girded me with strength (v. 39), else I could not have done it. All the praise is ascribed to God: Thou hast subdued them under me, v. 39. Thou hast given me their necks (v. 40), not only to trample upon them (as Jos. 10:24), but to cut them off. Even those who hated David whom God loved, and were enemies to the Israel of God, in their distress cried unto the Lord: but in vain; he answered them not. How could they expect he should when it was he whom they fought against? And, when he disowned them (as he will all those that act against his people), no other succours could stand them in stead: There was none to save them, v. 41. Those whom God has abandoned are easily vanquished: Then did I beat them small as the dust, v. 42. But those whose cause is just he avenges (v. 47), and those whom he favours will certainly be lifted up above those that rise up against them, v. 48. 8. God had raised him to the throne, and not only delivered him and kept him alive, but dignified him and made him great (v. 35): Thy gentleness has increased me-thy discipline and instruction; so some. The good lessons David learned in his affliction prepared him for the dignity and power that were intended him; and the lessening of him helped very much to increase his greatness. God made him not only a great conqueror, but a great ruler: Thou hast made me the head of the heathen (v. 43); all the neighbouring nations were tributaries to him. See 2 Sa. 8:6, 11. In all this David was a type of Christ, whom the Father brought safely through his conflicts with the powers of darkness, and made victorious over them, and gave to be head over all things to his church, which is his body.

II. David looks up with humble and reverent adorations of the divine glory and perfection. When God had, by his providence, magnified him, he endeavours, with his praises, to magnify God, to bless him and exalt him, v. 46. He gives honour to him, 1. As a living God: The Lord liveth, v. 46. We had our lives at first from, and we owe the continuance of them to, that God who has life in himself and is therefore fitly called the living God. The gods of the heathen were dead gods. The best friends we have among men are dying friends. But God lives, lives for ever, and will not fail those that trust in him, but, because he lives, they shall live also; for he is their life. 2. As a finishing God: As for God, he is not only perfect himself, but his way is perfect, v. 30. He is known by his name Jehovah (Ex. 6:3), a God performing and perfecting what he begins in providence as well as creation, Gen. 2:1. If it was God that made David's way perfect (v. 32), much more is his own way so. There is no flaw in God's works, nor any fault to be found with what he does, Eccl. 3:14. And what he undertakes he will go through with, whatever difficulties lie in the way; what God begins to build he is able to finish. 3. As a faithful God: The word of the Lord is tried. "I have tried it" (says David), "and it has not failed me." All the saints, in all ages, have tried it, and it never failed any that trusted in it. It is tried as silver is tried, refined from all such mixture and alloy as lessen the value of men's words. David, in God's providences concerning him, takes notice of the performance of his promises to him, which, as it puts sweetness into the providence, so it puts honour upon the promise. 4. As the protector and defender of his people. David had found him so to him: "He is the God of my salvation (v. 46), by whose power and grace I am and hope to be saved; but not of mine only: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him (v. 30); he shelters and protects them all, is both able and ready to do so." 5. As a non-such in all this, v. 31. There is a God, and who is God save Jehovah? That God is a rock, for the support and shelter of his faithful worshippers; and who is a rock save our God? Thus he not only gives glory to God, but encourages his own faith in him. Note, (1.) Whoever pretends to be deities, it is certain that there is no God, save the Lord; all others are counterfeits, Isa. 44:8; Jer. 10:10. (2.) Whoever pretends to be our felicities, there is no rock, save our God; none that we can depend upon to make us happy.

III. David looks forward, with a believing hope that God would still do him good. He promises himself, 1. That his enemies should be completely subdued, and that those of them that yet remained should be made his footstool,-that his government should be extensive, so that even a people whom he had not known should serve him (v. 43),-that his conquests, and, consequently, his acquests, should be easy (As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me, v. 44),-and that his enemies should be convinced that it was to no purpose to oppose him; even those that had retired to their fastnesses should not trust to them, but be afraid out of their close places, having seen so much of David's wisdom, courage, and success. Thus the Son of David, though he sees not yet all things put under him, yet knows he shall reign till all opposing rule, principality, and power shall be quite put down. 2. That his seed should be forever continued in the Messiah, who, he foresaw, should come from his loins, v. 50. He shows mercy to his anointed, his Messiah, to David himself, the anointed of the God of Jacob in the type, and to his seed for evermore. He saith not unto seeds, as of many, but to his seed, as of one, that is Christ, Gal. 3:16. It is he only that shall reign for ever, and of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. Christ is called David, Hos. 3:5. God has called him his king, Ps. 2:6. Great deliverance God does give, and will give to him, and to his church and people, here called his seed, for evermore.

In singing these verses we must give God the glory of the victories of Christ and his church hitherto and of all the deliverances and advancements of the gospel kingdom, and encourage ourselves and one another with an assurance that the church militant will be shortly triumphant, will be eternally so.

Calvin's Commentary

37. I will pursue my enemies, and will overtake them; nor will I return till I have consumed them. 38. I have afflicted [or smitten] them, so that they were not able to rise; they have fallen under my feet. 39. Thou hast girded me with strength [429] for the war; thou hast bowed down my enemies under me. 40. And thou hast given me the neck of my enemies, and those who hated me I have destroyed. [430]

The point on which David insists so much is, that of showing from the effect or issue, that all his victories were to be traced to the favor of God; and from this it follows that his cause was good and just. God, no doubt, sometimes grants successes even to the ungodly and wicked; but he at length shows by the issue, that he was all the while opposed to them and their enemy. It is his servants alone who experience such tokens of his favor as he shewed towards David, and he intends by these to testify that they are approved and accepted by him. We are apt to think that David here speaks too much after the manner of a soldier, in declaring that he will not cease from the work of slaughter until he has destroyed all his enemies; or rather that he has forgotten the gentleness and meekness which ought to shine in all true believers, and in which they should resemble their heavenly Father; but as he attempted nothing without the command of God, and as his affections were governed and regulated by the Holy Spirit, we may be assured that these are not the words of a man who was cruel, and who took pleasure in shedding blood, but of a man who faithfully executed the judgment which God had committed to him. And, indeed, we know that he was so distinguished for gentleness of disposition as to abhor the shedding of even a single drop of blood, except in so far as duty and the necessity of his office required. We must, therefore, take into consideration David's vocation, and also his pure zeal, which was free from all perturbation of the flesh. Moreover, it should be particularly attended to that the Psalmist here calls those his enemies whose indomitable and infatuated obstinacy merited and called forth such vengeance from God. As he represented the person of Christ, he inflicted the punishment of death only on those who were so inflexible that they could not be reduced to order by the exercise of a mild and humane authority; and this of itself shows, that there was nothing in which he more delighted than to pardon those who repented and reformed themselves. He thus resembled Christ, who gently allures all men to repentance, but breaks in pieces, with his iron rod, those who obstinately resist him to the last. The sum of these verses is, that David, as he fought under the authority of God, being chosen king by him, and engaging in no undertaking without his warrant, was assisted by him, and rendered invincible against the assaults of all his enemies, and enabled even to discomfit vast and very powerful armies. Farther, let us remember, that under this type there is shadowed forth the invincible character and condition of the kingdom of Christ, who, trusting to, and sustained by, the power of God, overthrows and destroys his enemies, -- who, in every encounter, uniformly comes off victorious, -- and who continues king in spite of all the resistance which the world makes to his authority and power. And as the victories secured to him involve a security of similar victories to us, it follows that there is here promised us an impregnable defense against all the efforts of Satan, all the machinations of sin, and all the temptations of the flesh. Although, therefore, Christ can only obtain a tranquil kingdom by fighting, let us not on that account be troubled, but let it be enough to satisfy us, that the hand of God is always ready to be stretched forth for its preservation. David was, for a time, a fugitive, so that it was with difficulty he could save his life, by taking shelter in the dens of wild beasts; but God, at length, made his enemies turn their backs, and not only put them to flight, but also delivered them over to him, that he might pursue and utterly discomfit them. In like manner, our enemies for a time may be, as it were, just ready to put the knife to our throat [431] to destroy us, but God, at length, will make them not only to flee before us, but also to perish in our presence, as they deserve. At the same time, let us remember what kind of warfare it is to which God is calling us, against what kind of persons he will have us to contend, and with what armor he furnishes us, that it may suffice us to have the devil, the flesh, and sin overthrown and placed under our feet by his spiritual power. With respect to those to whom he has given the power of the sword, he will also defend them, and not suffer them to be unrighteously opposed, provided they reign under Christ, and acknowledge him as their head. As to the words, interpreters almost unanimously render the beginning of the 40th verse, My enemies have turned the back, a phrase of the same import as, They have been put to flight; but as the Hebrew word rph, oreph, properly signifies the head or neck, we may very suitably view the words as meaning that God gave David the neck of his enemies, inasmuch as he delivered them into his hands to be slain.

Footnotes:

[429] "To be well girt was to be well armed in the Greek and Latin idioms, as well as in the Hebrew." -- Dr Geddes.

[430] In the French version it is, "Tu les as desfruits;" -- "Thou hast destroyed them."

[431] "Comme tous prests a nous mettre le cousteau sur la gorge." -- Fr.

Links

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GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

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St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers

How is Christ, as the Life, to be Applied by a Soul that Misseth God's Favour and Countenance.
The sixth case, that we shall speak a little to, is a deadness, occasioned by the Lord's hiding of himself, who is their life, and "the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9, and "whose loving-kindness is better than life," Ps. lxiii. 3, and "in whose favour is their life," Ps. xxx. 5. A case, which the frequent complaints of the saints manifest to be rife enough, concerning which we shall, 1. Shew some of the consequences of the Lord's hiding his face, whereby the soul's case will appear. 2. Shew the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life