Psalm 3 and a clarification

Thought I should let everyone know that I am already up to Psalm 8 in finished pieces, I just started this blog a few days ago. I'm not superhuman and no way could I design, carve, print and letter and color and everything in one day! This blog will eventually get to a point when the finished works will be more spaced out over a longer period of time.
So, on to Psalm 3!
Here is the original sketch, which I actually did secretly in church one day when it came to me (didn't want the pastor to think I was ignoring him):

The image idea was from the passage "But thou,
O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the
lifter up of mine head".
As time went on and the sketches became more
detailed, I decided to add "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about" to the image. Well, here is the final print, done on lino-block:









As you can see, I made a lot of changes to the original idea. The shield changed, the swords became more intense, people were added and I got to carve my favorite things: wings! I love doing wings, I just think they look cool in prints. It doesn't hurt also that wings are an acceptable design principle in anything religious. This is almost the last time I tried to actually carve the title into the print, I just don't think I was made for carving out letters. Funny isn't it, I can carve the finest detail on and in designs, but give me letters or numbers and I screw them up somehow. My favorite figure in the crowd of "enemies" is the one with the hand raised up in the "rock on" symbol (center under the shield).
Now, I love the decorative capital, but some people think it is too much.

Showing the illumination part is too hard, because it encompasses the the print almost entirely. So I am just going to show the final image down below and call it a day. This is one of my personal favorites by the way.

P.S. In case anyone ever wonders, my chop mark is the letter "d", although I should have done it
inverted