Keraia
Psalm 18

Psalm 18:26

The LORD Is My Rock · Psalm 18:1–50
Read Psalm 18

Translations

Modern
…to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.
Traditional
With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
Literal
…with the purified one, You show Yourself pure; and with the crooked one, You show Yourself shrewd.
Latin
…et cum electo electus eris, et cum perverso perverteris.

Original

Hebrew
English
…to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

Notes

Psalms 18:26

  • The pure have clean hands (see Psalm 18:20–24).

  • to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd: The Lord understands everyone's character and responds to them fairly.

Psalms 18:25–29

The faithful God remains true to his character. He loves faithfulness, innocence, and purity, and he hates wickedness (see Psalm 1:6).

Psalms 18:1–50

This psalm describes a royal story of God rescuing his king. A similar version of this psalm appears in 2 Samuel 22:1–51. The psalm encourages those who hear the earlier prayers for help in Psalms 16 and 17.

The psalmist describes the dramatic nature of God’s rescue in three different ways (Psalm 18:7–15, 16–19, 30–36). The psalm also offers hope that a future Son of David will completely defeat evil (Psalm 18:43–50; compare Psalm 2).

Psalms 15:1–19:14

The psalms in this section emphasize integrity and purity (Psalms 17:15; 18:20–26; 19:13–14). They describe people as living in God’s presence (Psalms 16:9–11; 17:15) and remaining steadfast (15:5; 16:8).

Parallels

2 Samuel 22:1–51

Glossary

Biblical Concept of Law David Jude, Letter of Music Psalms, Book of Samuel, Books of First and Second

Topics

God: Grace of God: Judge, and his Justice Wicked (People): Punishment of