Psalm 144

1    Blessed be the Lord my rock,  

who teaches my hands for war and my fingers for battle;

2    My steadfast help and my fortress,

    my stronghold and my deliverer,

    my shield in whom I trust,  

who subdues the peoples under me.

3    O Lord, what are mortals that you should consider them;  

mere human beings, that you should take thought for them?

4    They are like a breath of wind;  

their days pass away like a shadow.

5    Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;  

touch the mountains and they shall smoke.

6    Cast down your lightnings and scatter them;  

shoot out your arrows and let thunder roar.

7    Reach down your hand from on high;  

deliver me and take me out of the great waters,

    from the hand of foreign enemies,

8    Whose mouth speaks wickedness  

and their right hand is the hand of falsehood.

   O God, I will sing to you a new song;  

I will play to you on a ten-stringed harp,

10  You that give salvation to kings  

and have delivered David your servant.

11  Save me from the peril of the sword  

and deliver me from the hand of foreign enemies,

12  Whose mouth speaks wickedness  

and whose right hand is the hand of falsehood;

13  So that our sons in their youth

    may be like well-nurtured plants,  

and our daughters like pillars

    carved for the corners of the temple;

14  Our barns be filled with all manner of store;  

our flocks bearing thousands,

    and ten thousands in our fields;

15  Our cattle be heavy with young:  

may there be no miscarriage or untimely birth,

    no cry of distress in our streets.

16  Happy are the people whose blessing this is.  

Happy are the people who have the Lord for their God.

 

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.

Download the Reflections on the Psalms app