Psalm 18:5-20

New Catholic Bible

⁵ The cords of death encompassed me,
    and the torrents of destruction assailed me.
⁶ The cords of the netherworld ensnared me,
    and the snares of death^[a] rose up before me.
⁷ In my anguish I cried out to the Lord
    and called to my God for help.
From his temple^[b] he heard my voice,
    and my cry to him reached his ears.
^8 [c]The earth swayed and rocked;
    the foundations of the mountains shook,
    rocking because of his blazing anger.
⁹ Smoke poured forth from his nostrils,
    while a scorching fire blazed out of his mouth
    and kindled coals into flame.
¹⁰ He parted the heavens and came down;
    dark clouds lay under his feet.
¹¹ He rode upon a cherub,^[d]
    soaring swiftly on the wings of the wind.
¹² He used the darkness as his covering,
    and dense thunderclouds as his canopy.
¹³ From the radiance before him thick clouds emerged,
    spewing hail and flashes of fire.
¹⁴ The Lord thundered from the heavens,
    and the Most High let his voice be heard.
¹⁵ He shot his arrows^[e] and scattered them,
    hurled his lightning bolts and routed them.
¹⁶ Then the depths of the sea were exposed,
    and the earth’s foundations were laid bare,
at the rebuke of the Lord,^[f]
    at the blast of wind from his nostrils.
¹⁷ He reached down from on high and snatched me up;
    he drew me out of the watery depths.^[g]
18 He delivered me from my powerful enemy,
    and from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁹ They assailed me in the day of my misfortune,
    but the Lord came forward to uphold me.
²⁰ He led me forth into the open field;
    he set me free because he was pleased with me.