2 Samuel 22:1-10

1 David sang this song to the LORD when the LORD rescued him from all his enemies, especially from Saul.

2 He said, The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my Savior,

3 my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, the strength of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior who saved me from violence.

4 The LORD should be praised. I called on him, and I was saved from my enemies.

5 The waves of death had surrounded me. The torrents of destruction had overwhelmed me.

6 The ropes of the grave had surrounded me. The clutches of death had confronted me.

7 I called on the LORD in my distress. I called to my God for help. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry for help reached his ears.

8 Then the earth shook and quaked. Even the foundations of the heavens trembled. They shook violently because he was angry.

9 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and a raging fire came out of his mouth. Glowing coals flared up from it.

10 He spread apart the heavens and came down with a dark cloud under his feet.

2 Samuel 22:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 22

This chapter contains a song or psalm, the same with the eighteenth psalm, and which, according to Jarchi, was composed by David in his old age, and, as Kimchi says, at the end or close of his days; but Abarbinel is of opinion that it was written in his youthful time, in the midst of his troubles, and was sung by him as often as he had a deliverance from any; and which may account for the several variations in it from the eighteenth psalm, which, the same writer observes, are seventy four; and are not to be ascribed to the difference of copies, or neglect of copiers: and very probably, towards the close of his days, he revised it, and made it fit for general use, and sent it with the rest of his psalms to the chief musician; but the particular consideration of it, and of the differences in it from Ps 18:1-50 are referred to the exposition of that book in its course.