Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Psalms 144
Psalm 144: the Lord who teaches hands to war, and a wish for sons, daughters and full garners
General context
The speaker blesses the Lord his strength, who teaches his hands to war and his fingers to fight, and calls him his goodness, fortress, high tower, deliverer and shield, who subdues his people under him. He asks what man is that the Lord takes knowledge of him, and says man is like vanity and his days a passing shadow. He asks the Lord to bow the heavens and come down, touch the mountains so they smoke, cast lightning and shoot arrows to scatter and destroy them, and send his hand from above to deliver him out of great waters and from the hand of strange children whose mouth speaks vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. He promises a new song on a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings to the one who gives salvation to kings and delivers David his servant from the hurtful sword. He repeats the plea against the strange children, and asks that sons be as grown plants, daughters as polished corner stones, garners full, sheep bringing forth thousands, oxen strong, with no breaking in, going out or complaining in the streets. He ends by calling happy the people in such a case, whose God is the Lord.
Cited passages: Psalms 144:1, Psalms 144:2, Psalms 144:3, Psalms 144:4, Psalms 144:5, Psalms 144:6, Psalms 144:7, Psalms 144:8, Psalms 144:9, Psalms 144:10, Psalms 144:11, Psalms 144:12, Psalms 144:13, Psalms 144:14, Psalms 144:15
Psalms 144 (KJV)
1Blessed 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.
This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.
Historical context
The source prints no heading for this psalm; verse 1 begins with "Blessed be the Lord my strength", so no title, author or occasion is given and none is asserted. David is named once, in verse 10, as "David his servant" whom the Lord delivers from the hurtful sword; the verse speaks of David in the third person, and the text does not say that the speaker is David. The speaker says the Lord subdues "my people under me", and verse 10 speaks of salvation given "unto kings", but the psalm does not name the speaker or call him a king outright. The enemies are "strange children" with lying mouths and false right hands, named in the same words twice; no nation is named. The wishes for sons, daughters, garners, sheep and oxen are stated in the plural "our" and are not reported as fulfilled. Verses 3-4 on man's vanity sit between the blessing and the plea, and the psalm does not say how they connect. No Selah occurs.
Cited passages: Psalms 144:1, Psalms 144:10, Psalms 144:2, Psalms 144:8, Psalms 144:11, Psalms 144:12, Psalms 144:4
Literary context
The psalm opens with a list of titles for the Lord, seven in two verses, from "my strength" to "he in whom I trust", and ends with a list of household and farm wishes. Between them the address changes several times: praise in verses 1-2, a question about man in verses 3-4, imperatives asking the Lord to come down with smoke, lightning and arrows in verses 5-8, a promise of song in verse 9, a third-person statement about kings and David in verse 10, and a repeated plea in verse 11 that reuses the words of verses 7-8 almost exactly. The repetition of "Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children" marks the turn from war to peace, and the closing verses are one long sentence of "That our" clauses, sons, daughters, garners, sheep, oxen, streets. The word "vanity" is used of man in verse 4 and of the enemies' speech in verses 8 and 11. The psalm ends on "Happy is that people", said twice, so a psalm that began with hands taught to war ends with streets without complaining.
Cited passages: Psalms 144:1, Psalms 144:2, Psalms 144:3, Psalms 144:5, Psalms 144:9, Psalms 144:7, Psalms 144:11, Psalms 144:13, Psalms 144:4, Psalms 144:8, Psalms 144:15, Psalms 144:14
Key moments
- Hands taught to war (Psalms 144:1). The speaker blesses the Lord who teaches his hands to war and his fingers to fight.
- What is man? (Psalms 144:3). The speaker asks what man is that the Lord takes knowledge of him.
- Bow thy heavens (Psalms 144:5). The speaker asks the Lord to bow the heavens, come down and make the mountains smoke.
- Strange children with false hands (Psalms 144:7). The speaker asks to be delivered from great waters and from strange children.
- A new song (Psalms 144:9). The speaker promises a new song on a psaltery and ten-stringed instrument.
- David delivered from the sword (Psalms 144:10). The Lord is named as the one who delivers David his servant from the hurtful sword.
- Happy is that people (Psalms 144:15). The psalm ends by calling happy the people whose God is the Lord.
For reflection
The speaker blesses the Lord for teaching his hands to war, and the psalm ends by wishing for full garners, grown sons and daughters, and quiet streets. What does the poem suggest the fighting is for, and does it say the two belong together?
