Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 18:49

"Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah, among the nations, And will sing praises unto thy name." — Psalms 18:49 (ASV)

In Romans 15:9, St. Paul quotes this verse, together with Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 117:1, as proof that salvation was not in God’s purpose confined to the Jews.

It seems almost too magnificent a thought in David, that he could draw the surrounding nations within the circle of the religion, just as he had drawn them within the dominion of Israel. Nor is it likely that an individual would use such an expression. Israel as a nation, however, might praise God “among the nations.”

Therefore, this verse is adduced as an argument by those who assign a later date to the psalm. But perhaps we are only to think of the nations as brought as an unwilling audience of the praises which the conqueror raises to his God for the strength that had subdued them.