The Davidic Mercies and Deliverance from Foreigners

Often when reading the psalms we discover that verses and phrases repeat themselves. We may wonder if anything new is really being said. In such cases, we need to probe not at the parts but at how those parts have been woven into a new whole. Here in Psalm 144 virtually the entirety of verses 1–11 are drawn from formulas found in earlier psalms, especially Psalm 18 (“Praise be to . . . my Rock” in v. 1 = 18:2, 46; v. 1b = 18:34a; v. 2 = 18:2, 47b; v. 3 = 8:4; v. 4a = 39:5b, 11b; v. 4b = 102:11a; v. 5a [though an imperative] = 18:9a; v. 5b [imperative] = 104:32b; v. 6 [imperative] = 18:14; v. 7 [imperative] = 18:16, 44; for v. 8 cf. 12:2a; 63:11b; 26:10; v. 9 = 33:3a, 2b; for v. 10 cf. 18:50; v. 11 = 144:7–8). And verses 12–15 share a great…