The Meaning of Psalms 18:31 Explained

Psalms 18:31

KJV: For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?

YLT: For who is God besides Jehovah? And who is a rock save our God?

Darby: For who is +God save Jehovah? and who is a rock if not our God?

ASV: For who is God, save Jehovah? And who is a rock, besides our God,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For who [is] God  save  the LORD?  or who [is] a rock  save  our God? 

What does Psalms 18:31 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 18:27-50 - Girded With Strength For Service
God's way is perfect, and if only we will walk with Him He will make ours perfect also. Walls and troops cannot stop a man when God leads him through them. We must follow on the line of His purpose, and then the very mountains are a way and our enemies subserve the program, Acts 2:23.
Swift and sure-footed, when the path is slippery, Psalms 18:33; strong in battle, Psalms 18:34; great through God's gentle kindness, or, as the English Book of Common Prayer renders it, "thy loving correction," Psalms 18:35. Severity would never have done for the Apostles what Jesus did by His patience and long-suffering.
The closing hallelujah of Psalms 18:46-50 is very fine. It is the living Savior that we need. We must stint our words when we speak of men; but mortal lips, however eloquent, have never exhausted the worth of our King. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 18

1  David praises God for his manifold and marvelous blessings

What do the individual words in Psalms 18:31 mean?

For who [is] God except Yahweh and who [is] a rock except our God
כִּ֤י מִ֣י אֱ֭לוֹהַּ מִבַּלְעֲדֵ֣י ؟ יְהוָ֑ה וּמִ֥י צ֝֗וּר זוּלָתִ֥י ؟ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ

מִ֣י  who  [is] 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: מִי  
Sense: who?, whose?, whom?, would that, whoever, whosoever.
אֱ֭לוֹהַּ  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלֹוהַּ  
Sense: God.
מִבַּלְעֲדֵ֣י  except 
Parse: Preposition-m
Root: בַּלְעֲדֵי  
Sense: apart from, except, without, besides.
؟ יְהוָ֑ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
וּמִ֥י  and  who  [is] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Interrogative
Root: מִי  
Sense: who?, whose?, whom?, would that, whoever, whosoever.
צ֝֗וּר  a  rock 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: צוּר 
Sense: rock, cliff.
זוּלָתִ֥י  except 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: זוּלָה  
Sense: a removal, a putting away prep.
؟ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ  our  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common plural
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).