Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.
Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people х meeriybeey (H7379)] - from the contentions-not wars, but strifes х `amiy (H5971)] - of my people; i:e., the civil broils occasioned by Saul, Ish-bosheth, Absalom, Shebah, and the Judahites' jealousy of the other tribes, at the king's restoration. From the evils and dangers attendant upon all of these, the providence of God, who had destined him for the throne, had happily provided a way of escape.
Thou hast kept me to be head of the pagan, х gowyim (H1471), of nations; tishmªreeniy (H8104)] - thou hast watched, preserved me as a shepherd guards his sheep. This deliverance from domestic or intestine adversaries was a natural and necessary preliminary to his conquest and acquired supremacy over adjoining nations-namely, the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians, and others.
A people which I know not shall serve me - i:e., remote and barbarous nations, not specified by name in the covenant grant of the promised land.