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Psalm 18:17
He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
15Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.
17He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
18They came on me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.
19He brought me out also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
Notice
David’s admission that his enemies were “too mighty for me” leaves his own limits visible even in a song of rescue.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What is hard for you about admitting that someone’s power exceeds your own?
Write on thisWhen have you thanked God for rescue while still remembering how outmatched you felt?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Hebrews 2:14–15Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him …Both passages describe victory over a powerful enemy; Hebrews names the devil and Christ’s death as the means of victory.
Psalm 35:10All my bones shall say, “LORD, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?”Both psalms praise the Lord for delivering someone from an enemy whose strength exceeds their own.
Job 16:9He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.Both speakers describe fierce hostility; David recounts deliverance, while Job describes being torn and facing an adversary.
Psalm 142:6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.Both speakers acknowledge persecutors too strong for them; one asks for deliverance, and the other recounts it.
1 Samuel 11:9They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’” The messengers came and …The psalm recounts rescue already received; the men of Jabesh hear a promise of rescue and respond with gladness.
Ephesians 6:10–12Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.The psalm credits God with rescue beyond David’s strength; Ephesians directs its readers to strength in the Lord.
Psalm 69:4–14Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore …Both psalms name mighty enemies and their hatred, though Psalm 18 recounts deliverance while Psalm 69 describes ongoing hostility.
Psalm 118:7The LORD is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me.Both speakers credit the Lord with help against those who hate them.
1 Samuel 19:10Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence; and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped …David’s escape from Saul’s spear gives a concrete instance of the danger from enemies described in the psalm.
2 Samuel 22:18He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.Both verses recount God’s deliverance from hateful enemies and acknowledge that those enemies were too mighty for the speaker.
2 Samuel 22:1David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul,Samuel identifies David’s song with the Lord’s deliverance from enemies and Saul, matching the rescue celebrated in the psalm.
Where this verse fits
Gratitude. injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not have to make your strength sound greater than it is. David names his enemies’ strength without giving them the last word: God delivered him.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 18:17. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).