2 Samuel 22:2-12

2 and he saith: `Jehovah [is] my rock, And my bulwark, and a deliverer to me,

3 My God [is] my rock -- I take refuge in Him; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, My high tower, and my refuge! My Saviour, from violence Thou savest me!

4 The Praised One, I call Jehovah: And from mine enemies I am saved.

5 When the breakers of death compassed me, The streams of the worthless terrify me,

6 The cords of Sheol have surrounded me, Before me have been the snares of death.

7 In mine adversity I call Jehovah, And unto my God I call, And He heareth from His temple my voice, And my cry [is] in His ears,

8 And shake and tremble doth the earth, Foundations of the heavens are troubled, And are shaken, for He hath wrath!

9 Gone up hath smoke by His nostrils. And fire from His mouth devoureth, Brands have been kindled by it.

10 And He inclineth heaven, and cometh down, And thick darkness [is] under His feet.

11 And He rideth on a cherub, and doth fly, And is seen on the wings of the wind.

12 And He setteth darkness Round about Him -- tabernacles, Darkness of waters -- thick clouds of the skies.

2 Samuel 22:2-12 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.