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Psalm 144:5-7
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 144:5-7
New Catholic Bible
5 [a]Part the heavens, O Lord, and descend;
touch the mountains so that they smoke.[b]
6 Flash forth lightning bolts and scatter my foes;
rout them with your arrows.[c]
7 Reach forth your hand[d] from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters
and from the power of foreign foes
Footnotes
- Psalm 144:5 The psalmist calls upon God to become involved and deliver him, to come as the Divine Warrior as he did at Sinai. There he came accompanied by volcanic eruption, thunder, and lightning to save his people (see Ex 19:11, 18f).
- Psalm 144:5 This verse takes up Pss 18:10; 104:32. It also reveals the anxious expectation of Israel, the prey of persecutors, and the hope of a divine intervention.
- Psalm 144:6 See Ps 18:15. Arrows: i.e., the Lord’s lightning that serves to rout the enemies and take away their power.
- Psalm 144:7 See Ps 18:17, 46. Hand: symbolic of the Lord’s power (see Ps 18:17), which is capable of rescuing the psalmist out of the mighty waters into which he is sinking, i.e., out of the clutches of foreigners. For the Lord, who has subdued the stormy seas (see Ps 65:8; Gen 1:2), can certainly overpower stormy foreign foes (see Isa 56:6; 61:5).
