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Psalm 18 Bible study: I love you, LORD, my strength
Psalm 18 is 2 Samuel 22's song with its own first line, "I love you, LORD, my strength" (18:1): love there is racham, a verb used everywhere else for compassion. In the psalm David and his enemies cry with one verb; he was heard (18:6), they weren't (18:41). And Paul gives its praise "among the nations", also 2 Samuel 22's, as written of Christ's work (Romans 15:8-9).
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“The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.”
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“Psalm 18 begins, after its title, "I love you, LORD, my strength."”
Is that in Psalm 18, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"I love you, LORD"
This song is in the Bible twice: here, and in 2 Samuel 22 (the chapter on 2 Samuel 22 goes through it line by line). The psalm's title gives the same occasion, and calls David "the servant of the LORD" (18:1) (tap servant). Then come words 2 Samuel doesn't have. There the song begins, "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer" (2 Samuel 22:2). Here it begins, "I love you, LORD, my strength" (18:1) (tap love and strength). Here is what almost everyone misses. Love is racham, the verb other verses use for the LORD's own compassion: "so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him" (Psalm 103:13). This is the only verse in the Hebrew Bible where it is in the form Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "I love thee". And my strength is chezeq, a word the Hebrew Bible has only here. Another psalm says it with another verb, ahav: "I love the LORD, because he listens to my voice" (Psalm 116:1).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Psalm 18
That was a taste
The rest of Psalm 18 is waiting in Favor
- He cried, and they cried
- Among the nations, and his anointed
- Where Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22 differ
- Armed with strength
- 16 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Psalm 18 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
רָחַםrachamsay ra-KHAM
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "love", and in its other forms, "have compassion". Strong's: "to love, especially to compassionate". "I love you, LORD, my strength" (18:1). This is the only verse where the Hebrew Bible has the verb in the form Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "I love thee". Everywhere else it is about compassion, the LORD's or a person's: "Like a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him" (Psalm 103:13), where both are this verb. "I love the LORD" (Psalm 116:1) has another verb, ahav.
For your group
Psalm 18 Bible study questions
- 1The psalm's first words to God are "I love you, LORD, my strength" (18:1). If you said one line like that to God this week, in your own words, what would it be?
- 2"The LORD’s word is tried" (18:30). When has something God says in the Bible held true for you when it was put to the test?
- 3"Your right hand sustains me" (18:35), and "My feet have not slipped" (18:36). Where do you most need to be held up right now, and who could you tell?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 18 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Psalm 18 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
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No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
Yes. Favor starts where you are and explains as it goes. The questions along the way aren't marked right or wrong: you answer, then see what the text shows.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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No. Favor is non-denominational. Where Christians read a passage differently, it shows the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home