1. I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my Savior,my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,my shield, and the strength of my salvation,my stronghold.
3. The Lord should be praised.I called on him, and I was saved from my enemies.
4. The ropes of death had become tangled around me.The torrents of destruction had overwhelmed me.
5. The ropes of the grave had surrounded me.The clutches of death had confronted me.
6. I called on the Lord in my distress.I cried to my God for help.He heard my voice from his temple,and my cry for help reached his ears.
7. Then the earth shook and quaked.Even the foundations of the mountains trembled.They shook violently because he was angry.
8. Smoke went up from his nostrils,and a raging fire came out of his mouth.Glowing coals flared up from it.
9. He spread apart the heavensand came down with a dark cloud under his feet.
10. He rode on one of the angels as he flew,and he soared on the wings of the wind.
11. He made the darkness his hiding place,the dark rain clouds his covering.
12. Out of the brightness in front of him,those rain clouds passed by with hailstones and lightning.
13. The Lord thundered in the heavens.The Most High made his voice heard with hailstones and lightning.
14. He shot his arrows and scattered them.He flashed streaks of lightning and threw them into confusion.
15. Then the ocean floor could be seen.The foundations of the earth were laid bareat your stern warning, O Lord,at the blast of the breath from your nostrils.
16. He reached down from high above and took hold of me.He pulled me out of the raging water.
17. He rescued me from my strong enemyand from those who hated me,because they were too strong for me.