My great saviour

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress

and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield and the horn of

my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death entangled me;

the torrents of destruction

overvhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me.

In my distress I called to the Lord;

Icried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

my cry came before him, into his ears.

The earth trembled and quaked,

and the foundations of the

mountains shook;

the trembled because he was angry.

Smoke rose from his nostrils;

consuming fire came from his mouth,

burning coals blazed out of it.

He parted the heavens and came down,

dark clouds were under his feet.

He mounted the cherubim and flew;

he soared on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his covering, his

canopy around him-

the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Out og the brightness og his prescense

clouds advanced,

with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

The Lord thundered from heaven;

the voice og the Most High resounded.

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies

great bolts of lightning and routed them.

The valleys of sea were exposed

and the foundations of the earth laid bare

at your rebuke, O Lord,

at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

He reached down from in high and

took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the Lord was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

psalm 18,1-19