David starts out the psalm with the well-known exclamation blessed be the Lord. In Hebrew, the verb blessed be means praise as well as bless. The difference between these two is not so big when you see the verb as saying good things in the direction of… Then follows the reason for praising the Lord, namely to be made ready for battle. And indeed, we see this in David’s battle with Goliath. The Lord as Rock, upon whom you can build, is a well-known image of God; as also seen in Psalm 18:1–50. (There are more similarities between Psalm 144:1–15 and Psalm 18:1–50).