1. David prayed to God the words of this song after God saved him from all his enemies and from Saul.
2-3. God is bedrock under my feet,the castle in which I live,my rescuing knight.My God—the high cragwhere I run for dear life,hiding behind the boulders,safe in the granite hideout;My mountaintop refuge,he saves me from ruthless men.
4. I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,and find myself safe and saved.
5-6. The waves of death crashed over me,devil waters rushed over me.Hell’s ropes cinched me tight;death traps barred every exit.
7. A hostile world! I called to God,to my God I cried out.From his palace he heard me call;my cry brought me right into his presence—a private audience!
8-16. Earth wobbled and lurched;the very heavens shook like leaves,Quaked like aspen leavesbecause of his rage.His nostrils flared, billowing smoke;his mouth spit fire.Tongues of fire darted in and out;he lowered the sky.He stepped down;under his feet an abyss opened up.He rode a winged creature,swift on wind-wings.He wrapped himselfin a trenchcoat of black rain-cloud darkness.But his cloud-brightness burst through,a grand comet of fireworks.Then God thundered out of heaven;the High God gave a great shout.God shot his arrows—pandemonium!He hurled his lightnings—a rout!The secret sources of ocean were exposed,the hidden depths of earth lay uncoveredThe moment God roared in protest,let loose his hurricane anger.
17-20. But me he caught—reached all the wayfrom sky to sea; he pulled me outOf that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,the void in which I was drowning.They hit me when I was down,but God stuck by me.He stood me up on a wide-open field;I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!
21-25. God made my life completewhen I placed all the pieces before him.When I cleaned up my act,he gave me a fresh start.Indeed, I’ve kept alert to God’s ways;I haven’t taken God for granted.Every day I review the ways he works,I try not to miss a trick.I feel put back together,and I’m watching my step.God rewrote the text of my lifewhen I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.
26-28. You stick by people who stick with you,you’re straight with people who’re straight with you,You’re good to good people,you shrewdly work around the bad ones.You take the side of the down-and-out,but the stuck-up you take down a peg.