The psalms' battle prayers, read plainly and grouped by what they ask for, with the full text and a printable sheet.
The phrase spiritual warfare does not appear in the psalms. Their battles are against people: armies, accusers, those who hunt the writer down. What the psalms give a reader in a spiritual fight is their words. God is asked to take up shield and spear, to arise, to wake up. The writer is given strength and a shield. And alongside the sword, the psalms put praise and God's word, spoken out loud.
The sections follow what a warfare prayer asks for: that God would fight, that he would give strength, that he would answer an attack on the soul, and what the psalms use as weapons. Tick the verses you want and print them as one sheet.
Prayers that hand the fight to God.
Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me.Tell my soul, “I am your salvation.”
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Brandish the spear and block the pursuers, then: tell my soul, I am your salvation. The request ends with the words the writer needs to hear, not with the battle.
Let God arise!Let his enemies be scattered!Let them who hate him also flee before him.
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. The enemies are God's enemies first, and the prayer is that they flee before him.
Wake up!Why do you sleep, Lord?Arise!Don’t reject us forever.
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Wake up. Why do you sleep, Lord. The psalm accuses God of sleeping while his people suffer and asks him to rise, so a warfare prayer here includes complaint.
For searches about spiritual power. In these verses the strength comes from God and is given for a fight.
For you have armed me with strength to the battle.You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
You have armed me with strength to the battle. The writer is equipped rather than replaced, and the heading ties the psalm to the day he was delivered from his enemies.
The LORD is my strength and my shield.My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.With my song I will thank him.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Strength and shield come first, then trust, then help, then song. The verse moves through all of them in order.
For an attack aimed at faith and at the soul, not only at the body.
Many there are who say of my soul,“There is no help for him in God.” Selah.
Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
Many say there is no help for him in God. The attack is on faith itself, and the next verse answers it: but you, LORD, are a shield around me.
For the enemy pursues my soul.He has struck my life down to the ground.He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
The enemy pursues my soul and makes me live in dark places, like those long dead. The psalm describes what an attack does inside a person, not only the attack.
Though an army should encamp against me,my heart shall not fear.Though war should rise against me,even then I will be confident.
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
An army encamped and war rising, and the heart still does not fear. The confidence is stated before any victory is described.
Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call.I know this: that God is for me.
When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
My enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this: that God is for me. The turning back is tied to calling on God.
The psalms keep putting words in the mouth of the one who fights.
May the high praises of God be in their mouths,and a two-edged sword in their hand,
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
High praises in the mouth and a two-edged sword in the hand, in a single line. Praise is named before the sword.
From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength,because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Strength established from the lips of babes and infants, to silence the enemy. The weakest voices are the ones given the strength.
As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips,I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.
Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
By the word of your lips, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent. What keeps the writer here is God's word.
The phrase is not in the psalms. One New Testament passage close to the idea is Ephesians 6:12, which says our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of wickedness. Readers who pray the psalms that way take their battle language and aim it at those forces. The psalms themselves name human enemies throughout, so that step is the reader's, not the psalm's.
In Matthew 4:6 the devil quotes Psalm 91:11 and 91:12 to Jesus, urging him to throw himself down because angels will bear him up. Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 6:16: you shall not test the Lord your God. The scene shows a psalm used in a spiritual contest, and its promise refused as a test.
Psalms that ask God to fight or that describe battle. Psalm 35, Psalm 18, Psalm 68 and Psalm 144 are the clearest. Their enemies are people, and readers apply the language to spiritual struggle.
Psalm 3 answers the claim that there is no help in God, and Psalm 143 describes the enemy pursuing the soul into dark places. Both are prayers, not formulas.
The psalms speak of strength given for a fight rather than power held by the reader. Psalm 18:39 says God armed the writer with strength to the battle.
In Matthew 4:6 the devil quotes Psalm 91 to Jesus, who answers with Deuteronomy 6:16. The psalm is quoted in the contest, and its promise is not used as a test.
Nothing in the psalms asks for that. They are prayers addressed to God, and none of them gives a number of repetitions or a ritual.
Psalms for Protection from EvilPsalms for Enemies and People Who Are Against YouPsalms of VictoryPsalms About StrengthPsalms for Strength and CouragePsalm Verses for Protection