Psalm 18 (17): “I Love You, Lord, My Strength,” Catholic Text and Meaning

Unto the end, for David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:
The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support.
Praising I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies.
The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me.
The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me.
In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God: And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came into his ears.
The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them.
There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his face: coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds.
And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him: dark waters in the clouds of the air.
At the brightness that was before him the clouds passed, hail and coals of fire.
And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the highest gave his voice: hail and coals of fire.
And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them: he multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.
Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath.
He sent from on high, and took me: and received me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.
They prevented me in the day of my affliction: and the Lord became my protector.
And he brought me forth into a large place: he saved me, because he was well pleased with me.
And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands:
Because I have kept the ways of the Lord; and have not done wickedly against my God.
For till his judgments are in my sight: and his justices I have not put away from me.
And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my iniquity.
And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.
With the holy, thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou wilt be innocent.
And with the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted.
For thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the eyes of the proud.
For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God enlighten my darkness.
For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and through my God I shall go over a wall.
As for my God, his way is undefiled: the words of the Lord are fire tried: he is the protector of all that trust in him.
For who is God but the Lord? or who is God but our God?
God who hath girt me with strength; and made my way blameless.
Who hath made my feet like the feet of harts: and who setteth me upon high places.
Who teacheth my hands to war: and thou hast made my arms like a brazen bow.
And thou hast given me the protection of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath held me up: And thy discipline hath corrected me unto the end: and thy discipline, the same shall teach me.
Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; and my feet are not weakened.
I will pursue after my enemies, and overtake them: and I will not turn again till they are consumed.
I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand: they shall fall under my feet.
And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me.
And thou hast made my enemies turn their back upon me, and hast destroyed them that hated me.
They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord: but he heard them not.
And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.
Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people: thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles.
A people, which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me.
The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.
The Lord liveth, and blessed be my God, and let the God of my salvation be exalted:
O God, who avengest me, and subduest the people under me, my deliverer from my enemies.
And thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me: from the unjust man thou wilt deliver me.
Therefore will I give glory to thee, O Lord, among the nations, and I will sing a psalm to thy name.
Giving great deliverance to his king, and shewing mercy to David his anointed: and to his seed for ever.

I love you, Lord, my strength, my rock and my deliverer.
When I called to you in distress, you heard my voice.
Light my lamp, O Lord; enlighten my darkness.
I will praise you among the nations and sing to your name for ever. Amen.