2 Samuel 22:36-46

36 You have given me the shield of your salvation. Your help makes me great.

37 You make a wide path for me to walk on so that my feet do not slip.

38 I chased my enemies and destroyed them. I did not return until I had ended their lives.

39 I ended their lives by shattering them. They were unable to get up. They fell under my feet.

40 You armed me with strength for battle. You made my opponents bow at my feet.

41 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and I destroyed those who hated me.

42 They looked, but there was no one to save them. They looked to the LORD, but he did not answer them.

43 I beat them into a powder as fine as the dust on the ground. I crushed them and stomped on them like the dirt on the streets.

44 You rescued me from my conflicts with my people. You kept me as the leader of nations. A people I did not know will serve me.

45 Foreigners will cringe in front of me. As soon as they hear of me, they will obey me.

46 Foreigners will lose heart, although they are armed in their fortifications.

2 Samuel 22:36-46 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.