2 Samuel 22:9-19

9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared[a] on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark[b] rain clouds of the sky.
13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth.
14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
15 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them.
16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

2 Samuel 22:9-19 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.

Cross References 15

  • 1. Psalms 50:3; Psalms 97:3; Hebrews 12:29; S Revelation 11:5
  • 2. Isaiah 6:6; Ezekiel 1:13; Ezekiel 10:2
  • 3. S Exodus 19:9; Leviticus 16:2; S Deuteronomy 33:26; 1 Kings 8:12; Job 26:9; Psalms 104:3; Isaiah 19:1; Jeremiah 4:13; Nahum 1:3
  • 4. S Genesis 3:24; S Exodus 25:22
  • 5. Psalms 104:3
  • 6. S Exodus 19:9
  • 7. ver 9; Job 37:3; Psalms 77:18
  • 8. S 1 Samuel 2:10
  • 9. S Deuteronomy 32:23
  • 10. Psalms 6:1; Psalms 50:8,21; Psalms 106:9; Nahum 1:4
  • 11. S Exodus 14:21; Isaiah 30:33; Isaiah 40:24
  • 12. Psalms 144:7
  • 13. Exodus 2:10
  • 14. Luke 1:71
  • 15. Psalms 23:4

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Many Hebrew manuscripts (see also Psalm 18:10); most Hebrew manuscripts "appeared"
  • [b]. Septuagint (see also Psalm 18:11); Hebrew "massed"
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