"The LORD Is My Rock and My Fortress"

Psalm 18 is King David's great song of thanksgiving — one of the longest and most epic psalms in the entire Book of Psalms. David composed it on the day God delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. It opens with an intimate declaration of love, moves through a desperate cry from the depths of death, and erupts into a stunning cosmic vision of divine rescue. The earth shakes. Fire and smoke pour from the heavens. God descends on a cherub through storm and darkness — all in response to a single cry of a man in distress.

The central verse, chosen as the chorus of this song, is:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

Seven images of divine protection, piled one upon another — not poetry alone, but a declaration of absolute faith. When everything crumbles, God is the rock that does not move.

This song is part of the larger journey of the project: with God's help, to compose and sing the entire Book of Psalms in a diverse, emotional, Jewish, and uplifting musical language.