Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 18:20

"Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me." — Psalms 18:20 (ASV)

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness — That is, He saw that I did not deserve the treatment which I received from my enemies, and therefore He interposed to save me. Compare the note at Psalms 17:3.

According to the cleanness of my hands — So far as my fellow men are concerned. I have done them no wrong.

Has He recompensed me — By rescuing me from the power of my enemies. It is not inconsistent with proper views of piety — with true humility before God — to feel and to say, that so far as our fellow men are concerned, we have not deserved ill-treatment at their hands; and, when we are delivered from their power, it is not improper to say and to feel that the interposition in the case has been according to justice and to truth.