2 Samuel 22

1 Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

2 And he said: "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;

3 The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence.

4 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.

5 "When the waves of death surrounded me, The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

6 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

7 In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears.

8 "Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry.

9 Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it.

10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet.

11 He rode upon a cherub, and flew; And He was seen upon the wings of the wind.

12 He made darkness canopies around Him, Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

13 From the brightness before Him Coals of fire were kindled.

14 "The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.

15 He sent out arrows and scattered them; Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.

16 Then the channels of the sea were seen, The foundations of the world were uncovered, At the rebuke of the Lord, At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

17 "He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.

18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me; For they were too strong for me.

19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my support.

20 He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

21 "The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.

22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God.

23 For all His judgments were before me; And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.

24 I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity.

25 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in His eyes.

26 "With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;

27 With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

28 You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

29 "For You are my lamp, O Lord; The Lord shall enlighten my darkness.

30 For by You I can run against a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.

31 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

32 "For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?

33 God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect.

34 He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places.

35 He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

36 "You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great.

37 You enlarged my path under me; So my feet did not slip.

38 "I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them; Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.

39 And I have destroyed them and wounded them, So that they could not rise; They have fallen under my feet.

40 For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose against me.

41 You have also given me the necks of my enemies, So that I destroyed those who hated me.

42 They looked, but there was none to save; Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

43 Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, And I spread them out.

44 "You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people; You have kept me as the head of the nations. A people I have not known shall serve me.

45 The foreigners submit to me; As soon as they hear, they obey me.

46 The foreigners fade away, And come frightened from their hideouts.

47 "The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, The Rock of my salvation!

48 It is God who avenges me, And subdues the peoples under me;

49 He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man.

50 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name.

51 "He is the tower of salvation to His king, And shows mercy to His anointed, To David and his descendants forevermore."

2 Samuel 22 Commentary

Chapter 22

David's psalm of thanksgiving.

- This chapter is a psalm of praise; we find it afterwards nearly as ( Psalms 18 ) . They that trust God in the way of duty, shall find him a present help in their greatest dangers: David did so. Remarkable preservations should be particularly mentioned in our praises. We shall never be delivered from all enemies till we ( 2 Timothy. 4:18 ) Those who receive signal mercies from God, ought to give him the glory. In the day that God delivered David, he sang this song. While the mercy is fresh, and we are most affected with it, let the thank-offering be brought, to be kindled with the fire of that affection. All his joys and hopes close, as all our hopes should do, in the great Redeemer.

Footnotes

• [a]. Compare Psalm 18
• [b]. Following Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and Targum; Syriac and Vulgate read hills (compare Psalm 18:7).
• [c]. Following Masoretic Text and Septuagint; many Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, and Vulgate read He flew (compare Psalm 18:10); Targum reads He spoke with power.
• [d]. Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read the cleanness of my hands in His sight (compare Psalm 18:24); Targum reads my cleanness before His word.
• [e]. Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read It is God who arms me with strength (compare Psalm 18:32); Targum reads It is God who sustains me with strength.
• [f]. Following Qere, Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate (compare Psalm 18:32); Kethib reads His.
• [g]. Following Qere, Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate (compare Psalm 18:33); Kethib reads His.
• [h]. Following Septuagint, Targum, and Vulgate (compare Psalm 18:45); Masoretic Text reads gird themselves.

Chapter Summary

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.