18For our shield belongs to the LORD,
         And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones,
         And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty;
         I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20“I have found David My servant;
         With My holy oil I have anointed him,

21With whom My hand will be established;
         My arm also will strengthen him.

22“The enemy will not deceive him,
         Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23“But I shall crush his adversaries before him,
         And strike those who hate him.

24“My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,
         And in My name his horn will be exalted.

25“I shall also set his hand on the sea
         And his right hand on the rivers.

26“He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father,
         My God, and the rock of my salvation.’

27“I also shall make him My firstborn,
         The highest of the kings of the earth.

28“My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever,
         And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.

29“So I will establish his descendants forever
         And his throne as the days of heaven.

30“If his sons forsake My law
         And do not walk in My judgments,

31If they violate My statutes
         And do not keep My commandments,

32Then I will punish their transgression with the rod
         And their iniquity with stripes.

33“But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him,
         Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.

34“My covenant I will not violate,
         Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

35“Once I have sworn by My holiness;
         I will not lie to David.

36“His descendants shall endure forever
         And his throne as the sun before Me.

37“It shall be established forever like the moon,
         And the witness in the sky is faithful.”

38But You have cast off and rejected,
         You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.

39You have spurned the covenant of Your servant;
         You have profaned his crown in the dust.

40You have broken down all his walls;
         You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

41All who pass along the way plunder him;
         He has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
         You have made all his enemies rejoice.

43You also turn back the edge of his sword
         And have not made him stand in battle.

44You have made his splendor to cease
         And cast his throne to the ground.

45You have shortened the days of his youth;
         You have covered him with shame.

46How long, O LORD?
         Will You hide Yourself forever?
         Will Your wrath burn like fire?

47Remember what my span of life is;
         For what vanity You have created all the sons of men!

48What man can live and not see death?
         Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

49Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord,
         Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?

50Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants;
         How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,

51With which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD,
         With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed.

52Blessed be the LORD forever!
         Amen and Amen.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
because you are the glory of their strength. By your favor you give us victory.

King James Bible
For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.

Darby Bible Translation
For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

English Revised Version
For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

Webster's Bible Translation
For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.

World English Bible
For you are the glory of their strength. In your favor, our horn will be exalted.

Young's Literal Translation
For the beauty of their strength art Thou, And in Thy good will is our horn exalted,

Cross References

Luke 1:69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant--

1 Samuel 2:1 Then Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation.

Psalm 28:8 The LORD is their strength, And He is a saving defense to His anointed.

Psalm 75:10 And all the horns of the wicked He will cut off, But the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

Psalm 92:10 But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil.

Psalm 112:9 He has given freely to the poor, His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted in honor.

Psalm 148:14 And He has lifted up a horn for His people, Praise for all His godly ones; Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the LORD!

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 15-18

The psalmist, having largely shown the blessedness of the God of Israel, here shows the blessedness of the Israel of God. As there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, so, happy art thou, O Israel! there is none like unto thee, O people! especially as a type of the gospel-Israel, consisting of all true believers, whose happiness is here described.

I. Glorious discoveries are made to them, and glad tidings of good brought to them; they hear, they know, the joyful sound, v. 15. This may allude, 1. To the shout of a victorious army, the shout of a king, Num. 23:21. Israel have the tokens of God's presence with them in their wars; the sound of the going in the top of the mulberry-trees was indeed a joyful sound (2 Sa. 5:24); and they often returned making the earth ring with their songs of triumph; these were joyful sounds. Or, 2. To the sound that was made over the sacrifices and on the solemn feast-day, Ps. 81:1-3. This was the happiness of Israel, that they had among them the free and open profession of God's holy religion, and abundance of joy in their sacrifices. Or, 3. To the sound of the jubilee-trumpet; a joyful sound it was to servants and debtors, to whom it proclaimed release. The gospel is indeed a joyful sound, a sound of victory, of liberty, of communion with God, and the sound of abundance of rain; blessed are the people that hear it, and know it, and bid it welcome.

II. Special tokens of God's favour are granted them: "They shall walk, O Lord! in the light of thy countenance; they shall govern themselves by thy directions, shall be guided by the eye; and they shall delight themselves in thy consolations. They shall have the favour of God; they shall know that they have it, and it shall be continual matter of joy and rejoicing to them. They shall go through all the exercises of a holy life under the powerful influences of God's lovingkindness, which shall make their duty pleasant to them and make them sincere in it, aiming at this, as their end, to be accepted of the Lord." We then walk in the light of the Lord when we fetch all our comforts from God's favour and are very careful to keep ourselves in his love.

III. They never want matter for joy: Blessed are God's people, for in his name, in all that whereby he has made himself known, if it be not their own fault, they shall rejoice all the day. Those that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and make God their exceeding joy, have enough to counterbalance their grievances and silence their griefs; and therefore their joy is full (1 Jn. 1:4) and constant; it is their duty to rejoice evermore.

IV. Their relation to God is their honour and dignity. They are happy, for they are high. Surely in the Lord, in the Lord Christ, they have righteousness and strength, and so are recommended by him to the divine acceptance; and therefore in him shall all the seed of Israel glory, Isa. 45:24, 25. So it is here, v. 16, 17. 1. "In thy righteousness shall they be exalted, and not in any righteousness of their own." We are exalted out of danger, and into honour, purely by the righteousness of Christ, which is a clothing both for dignity and for defence. 2. "Thou art the glory of their strength," that is, "thou art their strength, and it is their glory that thou art so, and what they glory in." Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph. 3. "In thy favour, which through Christ we hope for, our horn shall be exalted." The horn denotes beauty, plenty, and power; these those have who are made accepted in the beloved. What greater preferment are men capable of in this world than to be God's favourites?

V. Their relation to God is their protection and safety (v. 18): "For our shield is of the Lord" (so the margin) "and our king is from the Holy One of Israel. If God be our ruler, he will be our defender; and who is he than that can harm us?" It was the happiness of Israel that God himself had the erecting of their bulwarks and the nominating of their king (so some take it); or, rather, that he was himself a wall of fire round about them, and, as a Holy One, the author and centre of their holy religion; he was their King, and so their glory in the midst of them. Christ is the Holy One of Israel, that holy thing; and in nothing was that peculiar people more blessed than in this, that he was born King of the Jews. Now this account of the blessedness of God's Israel comes in here as that to which it was hard to reconcile their present calamitous state.

Calvin's Commentary

15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound! [534] they shall walk, O Jehovah! in the brightness of thy countenance. 16. In thy name shall they daily rejoice; and in thy righteousness shall they glory. 17. For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy favor shall our horn be exalted. 18. For to Jehovah [535] is our buckler; and our King is to the Holy One of Israel.

15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. Here the same train of reflection concerning the Church is pursued, not only because unbelievers are blind to the consideration of God's works, but also because the prophet has no other purpose in view than to inspire the godly with good hope, that they may with confidence rely upon God, and not be discouraged by any adversities from boldly calling upon him. It is declared that those are happy to whom it is given to rejoice in God; for although all men in common are sustained and nourished by his liberality, yet the feeling of his paternal goodness is far from being experienced by all men in such a manner as to enable them, from a certain persuasion that he is favorable to them, to congratulate themselves upon their happy condition. It is, therefore, a singular privilege which he confers upon his chosen ones, to make them taste of his goodness, that thereby they may be encouraged to be glad and rejoice. And, in fact, there is not a more miserable condition than that of unbelievers, when by their brutish insensibility they trample under foot the Divine benefits which they greedily devour; for the more abundantly God pampers them, the fouler is their ingratitude. True happiness then consists in our apprehending the Divine goodness which, filling our hearts with joy, may stir us up to praise and thanksgiving.

The prophet afterwards proves from the effect, that those who with joy and delight acknowledge God to be their father are blessed, because they not only enjoy his benefits, but also, confiding in his favor, pass the whole course of their life in mental peace and tranquillity. This is the import of walking in the light of God's countenance: it is to repose upon his providence from the certain persuasion that he has a special care about our well-being, and keeps watch and ward effectually to secure it. The expressions rejoicing in his name, and glorying in his righteousness, are to the same purpose. The idea involved in them is, that believers find in God abundant, yea more than abundant, ground to rejoice and glory. The word daily appears to denote steadfast and unwavering perseverance; and thus there is indirectly censured the foolish arrogance of those who, inflated only with wind and presuming on their own strength, lift up their horns on high. Standing as they do upon an insecure foundation, they must at length inevitably fall. Whence it follows, that there is no true magnanimity nor any power which can stand but that which leans upon the grace of God alone; even as we see how Paul (Romans 8:31) nobly boasts, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" and defies all calamities both present and to come.

17. For thou art the glory of their strength. The same sentiment is confirmed when it is declared, that God never leaves his faithful servants destitute of strength. By the appellation the glory of their strength, which is ascribed to him, is meant that they are always so sustained by his present aid as to have just ground to glory in him; or which amounts to the same thing, that his power appears always glorious in aiding and sustaining them. They are, however, at the same time, reminded of the duty of yielding to God all the praise of their being preserved in safety. If this is true as to the present life, it is much more truly applicable to the spiritual life of the soul. Farther, the more highly to magnify this instance of God's liberality, we are taught, at the same time, that it depends entirely upon his good pleasure, there being no other cause of it. [536] Whence it follows, that they are wholly bound and indebted to Him who is induced by his free bounty alone to continue to extend to them his help.

18. For to Jehovah is our buckler. As the chief protection of the people was in the person of their king, it is here expressly shown, that the maintenance of the welfare of the faithful by his instrumentality is the gift of God. But it is to be noticed, that the prophet's mind was not so fixed upon this temporal and transitory kingdom as to neglect, at the same time, to consider the end of it, as we shall presently see. He knew that it was only on account of Christ that God made his favor to flow upon the head of the Church, and from thence upon the whole body. And, in the first place, while he calls the king metaphorically a buckler, -- a figurative expression frequently employed in Scripture, -- he confesses that when the people are defended by his hand and working, it is nevertheless done by the providence of God, and is thus to be traced to a higher source than human agency. The same thing is again repeated in the second clause, in which it is affirmed, that the king was given by God to govern the people; and that, therefore, the defense which comes from the king is a blessing of God. Moreover, we must remember that what is said of this kingdom, which was a shadow of something greater, properly applies to the person of Christ, whom the Father has given to us to be the guardian of our welfare, that we may be maintained and defended by his power.

Footnotes:

[534] "Pource qu'ils n'ont rien au dedans qui leur acquiere authorite et donne majeste." -- Fr.

[535] "O the blessednesses of the people that know the joyful sound; that are spared to hear the sound of the trumpet on the morning of the jubilee, which proclaims deliverance to the captives, and the restoration of all their forfeited estates!" -- Dr Adam Clarke. "But let us not forget," says Dr Morison, "that the trumpet of jubilee was a type of the proclamation of peace and salvation by Jesus Christ. How happy they who, when the gospel trumpet is blown by the heralds of salvation, are enabled to recognize its joyful sound."

[536] "The Hebrew lyhvh, must be rendered of or from the Lord, in both places in this verse: Of the Lord is our shield or defense;' Of the Lord, or from him,' i e., of his appointment, is our King.'"-- Hammond

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December the Ninth National Blessedness
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Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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That we may give some satisfaction to this question, we shall, 1. Shew what are the ingredients in this case, or what useth to concur in this distemper. 2. Shew some reasons why the Lord is pleased to dispense thus with his people. 3. Shew how Christ is life to the soul in this case. 4. Shew the believer's duty for a recovery; and, 5. Add a word or two of caution. As to the first, There may be those parts of, or ingredients in this distemper: 1. God presenting their sins unto their view, so as …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

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"THE Firstborn" or "The Firstbegotten" is one of the names of our blessed Lord. It is applied to Him after His resurrection from the dead. As the Only Begotten He came into this world, the unspeakable gift of God to a lost and ruined world; after the accomplishment of His work on the cross He left the earth, He had created, as the Firstborn. As the Firstbegotten He is now in the highest heaven and as the Firstbegotten the Man of Glory He will be sent back to this earth and rule in power and glory. …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

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Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him, …
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Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

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Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity