Psalms 144King James Version
Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war. Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him!
A war psalm echoing Psalm 18, with a vision of domestic prosperity. Blessed be the LORD my rock, who teaches my hands to war. Man is like vanity; his days as a shadow. Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down. Deliver me from strange children whose mouth speaks vanity. I will sing a new song upon a ten-stringed instrument. Deliver David his servant from the hurtful sword. Then the closing vision: sons as young plants, daughters as polished palace pillars, garners full, no complaining in the streets. Happy is that people whose God is the LORD.
The warrior-king's prayer for deliverance turns, at the end, into a vision of peaceful prosperity: the purpose of winning the wars is the flourishing of the household.
verse: "Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD." The closing moves from military victory to domestic happiness to the theological claim underlying both.
Superscription: 'A Psalm of David.' The extensive overlap with Psalm 18 (vv1-11 paralleling Ps 18) suggests liturgical recycling of the great victory hymn in a new context. The closing domestic vision (vv12-15) has no parallel in Psalm 18 and represents the unique contribution of Psalm 144. Book 5.
David as the warrior-king; God as the training rock; the strange children as the enemy; sons and daughters as the vision of flourishing; the whole people as the ultimate beneficiary.
Psalm 144 is the penultimate psalm of the Davidic collection (138-145) and acts as a transition from war-prayer to the pure praise of Psalm 145. The domestic vision (vv12-15) is unusual in a war psalm and anticipates the final shalom of Revelation. The 'sons as plants' and 'daughters as pillars' became foundational in Jewish and Christian theology of family.
For when you are in conflict and you want to keep the vision of what the peace is for. The psalm holds the battle and the household together.
1[A Psalm of David.] Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
2My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
3LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
4Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
5Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
7Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
8Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
9I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
10It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
11Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:
12That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
13That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:
14That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
15Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.