תהלים 18:9

Hebrew Modern Translation

ויט שמים וירד וערפל תחת רגליו׃

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Aleppo Codex
[18:10] שמים וירד וערפל תחת רגליו

Biblia Hebrica Stuttgartensia (1967/77)
[18:10] וַיֵּ֣ט שָׁ֭מַיִם וַיֵּרַ֑ד וַ֝עֲרָפֶ֗ל תַּ֣חַת רַגְלָֽיו ׃

Westminster Leningrad Codex
[18:10] וַיֵּט מַיִם וַיֵּרַד וַעֲרָפֶל תַּחַת רַגְלָֽיו ׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

He bowed: Jehovah is here represented as a mighty warrior going forth to fight the battles of David. When He descended to the engagement, the very heavens bowed to render his descent more awful: His military tent was substantial darkness; the voice of His thunder was the warlike alarm which sounded to battle; the chariot in which He rode was the thick clouds of heaven, conducted by cherubs, and carried on by the irresistible force and rapid wings of an impetuous tempest; and the darts and weapons He employed were thunder-bolts, lightnings, fiery hail, deluging rains, and stormy winds! No wonder that when God arose all His enemies were scattered, and those that hated Him fled before Him. Psalms 68:4, Psalms 144:5-15, Deuteronomy 33:26, 2 Samuel 22:10, Isaiah 51:6, Joel 3:16, Matthew 24:29, Hebrews 12:26, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 20:11

darkness: Deuteronomy 5:22, Deuteronomy 5:23, Mark 15:33, John 13:7

Reciprocal: Exodus 3:8 - I am Exodus 19:11 - the Lord Exodus 20:21 - thick Luke 9:34 - there

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He bowed the heavens also, and came down,.... To execute wrath and vengeance on wicked men; which is always the sense of these phrases when they go together; see Psalms 144:6; The Targum is, "he bowed the heavens, and his glory appeared"; that is, the glory of his power, and of his mighty hand of vengeance; for not his grace and mercy, but his indignation and wrath, showed themselves; for it follows,

and darkness [was] under his feet; the Targum is, "a dark cloud", expressive of the awfulness of the dispensation to wicked men; who are not allowed to see the face of God, are debarred his presence, and denied, communion with him, and to whom everything appears awful and terrible, Psalms 97:2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He bowed the heavens also - He seemed to bend down the heavens - to bring them nearer to the earth. “He inclines the canopy of the heavens, as it were, toward the earth; wraps himself in the darkness of night, and shoots forth his arrows; hurls abroad his lightnings, and wings them with speed.” Herder, Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (Marsh), ii. 157. The allusion is still to the tempest, when the clouds ran low; when they seem to sweep along the ground; when it appears as if the heavens were brought nearer to the earth - as if, to use a common expression, “the heavens and earth were coming together.”

And came down - God himself seemed to descend in the fury of the storm.

And darkness was under his feet - A dark cloud; or, the darkness caused by thick clouds. Compare Nahum 1:3, “The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” Deuteronomy 4:11, “the mountain burned ... with thick darkness.” Deuteronomy 5:22, “these words the Lord spake out of the thick darkness.” Psalms 97:2, “clouds and darkness are round about him.” The idea here is that of awful majesty and power, as we are nowhere more forcibly impressed with the idea of majesty and power than in the fury of a storm.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 18:9. He bowed the heavens also, and came down — - He made the heavens bend under him when he descended to take vengeance on his enemies. The psalmist seems here to express the appearance of the Divine majesty in a glorious cloud, descending from heaven, which underneath was substantially dark, but above, bright, and shining with exceeding lustre; and which, by its gradual approach to the earth, would appear as though the heavens themselves were bending down and approaching towards us.