Psalms 18:42

⁴⁰ You have made my enemies retreat before me; I put an end to those who hated me.

⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but He did not answer.

I ground them as dust in the face of the wind; I trampled them like mud in the streets.

⁴³ You have delivered me from the strife of the people; You have made me the head of nations; a people I had not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴ When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: I ground them as dust in the face of the wind; I trampled them like mud in the streets.
KJV: Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
WEB: Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.
ASV: Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I did cast them out as the mire of the streets.
DARBY: And I did beat them small as dust before the wind; I did cast them out as the mire of the streets.
BLB: And I beat them as dust upon the face of the wind; like mud in the streets I trampled them.

ÅB: Og jeg knuser dem som støv for vinden,
jeg tømmer dem ut som søle på gatene.
OTB: Da knuste jeg dem som støv for vinden;
Jeg kastet dem ut som gjørme i gatene.
B1930: Og jeg knuser dem som støv for vinden, jeg tømmer dem ut som søle på gatene.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Isaiah 10:6
I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
Read in context
Isaiah 41:15–16
Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
Read in context
Zechariah 10:5
They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.
Read in context
2 Kings 13:7
Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
Read in context
Isaiah 41:2
Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.
Read in context
Isaiah 25:10
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
Read in context
Malachi 4:3
Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Read in context
Psalms 50:22
Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
Read in context