Psa 18:1 | NETfull | STEP | For the music director; by the Lord ’s servant David, who sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord rescued him from the power of all his enemies, including Saul. He said: “I love you, Lord , my source of strength!

Psalms 18:1

For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang ^{▼▼ Heb “spoke.”} to the Lord the words of this song when ^{▼▼ Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”} the Lord rescued him from the power ^{▼▼ Heb “hand.”} of all his enemies, including Saul. ^{▼▼ Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”}

1 He said: ^{▼▼ A number of translations (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) assign the words “he said” to the superscription, in which case the entire psalm is in first person. Other translations (e.g., NAB) include the introductory “he said” at the beginning of v. 1.}
“I love ^{▼▼ The verb רָחַם (rakham) elsewhere appears in the Piel (or Pual) verbal stem with the basic meaning, “have compassion.” The verb occurs only here in the basic (Qal) stem. The basic stem of the verbal root also occurs in Aramaic with the meaning “love” (see DNWSI 2:1068–69; Jastrow 1467 s.v. רָחַם; G. Schmuttermayr, “rhm: eine lexikalische Studie,” Bib 51 [1970]: 515-21). Since this introductory statement does not appear in the parallel version in 2 Sam 22:1–51, it is possible that it is a later addition to the psalm, made when the poem was revised for use in worship.} you, Lord, my source of strength! ^{▼▼ Heb “my strength.” “Strength” is metonymic here, referring to the Lord as the one who bestows strength to the psalmist; thus the translation “my source of strength.”}