2 Samuel 22:20-30

20 And he brought me forth into a large place; He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

21 Jehovah hath rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

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

23 For all his ordinances were before me, And his statutes, I did not depart from them,

24 And I was upright before him, And kept myself from mine iniquity.

25 And Jehovah hath recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his sight.

26 With the gracious thou dost shew thyself gracious; With the upright man thou dost shew thyself upright;

27 With the pure thou dost shew thyself pure; And with the perverse thou dost shew thyself contrary.

28 And the afflicted people thou dost save; And thine eyes are upon the haughty, [whom] thou bringest down.

29 For thou art my lamp, Jehovah; And Jehovah enlighteneth my darkness.

30 For by thee I have run through a troop; By my God have I leaped over a wall.

2 Samuel 22:20-30 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'perfect,' as Gen. 6.9; 17.1; Deut. 18.13.
• [b]. Chasid, 'pious,' 'godly:' see 2Chron. 6.41. A form of this word is used specifically of the ways of Hezekiah and of Josiah in 2Chron. 32.32 and 35.26. See also Ps.4.3; 12.1; 16.10.
• [c]. Or 'wilt.'