2 Samuel 22:26-36

26 With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with the strong, that is, to suffer adversities patiently, thou shalt be perfect; (With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with the upright, thou shalt be upright;)

27 and with a chosen man thou shalt be chosen, and with a wayward man thou shalt be made wayward . (and with the pure, thou shalt be pure, but to the wicked, thou shalt be hostile to them.)

28 And thou shalt make safe a poor people; and with thine eyes thou shalt make low them that be high. (And thou shalt save the poor; and thou shalt humble those who be high in their own eyes/and thou shalt look with contempt upon the proud.)

29 For thou, Lord, art my lantern, and thou, Lord, shalt lighten my darkness.

30 For I girded, that is, made ready to battle, shall run in thee, that is, in thy strength; and in my God I shall skip over the wall. (For when I am girded, that is, made ready for battle, I shall run by thy strength; and so, with God's help, I shall leap over the wall.)

31 God, his way is without wem; the speech of the Lord is examined with fire, that is, is (as) pure and clean as metal proved in the furnace; he is a shield of all men hoping in him. (As for God, his way is without fault; the word of the Lord is examined with fire, that is, is as pure and clean as metal proved in the furnace; he is a shield for all men hoping in him.)

32 For who is God, except the Lord; and who is strong, except our God?

33 God, that hath girded me with strength, and hath made plane my perfect way; (Yea, God, who hath girded me with strength, and hath made my way perfect, or without blame;)

34 and he hath made even my feet with harts? (feet), and hath set me upon mine high things; (and he hath made my feet like the feet of a hart, or of a deer, and hath set me on high places, that is, on the mountains;)

35 and he taught mine hands to battle, and a brasen bow was granted to mine arm(s). (and he taught my hands in battle, and now my arms can break a bronze bow.)

36 Thou hast given to me the shield of thine health; and thy mildness hath multiplied me. (Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation; and thy gentleness hath made me great.)

2 Samuel 22:26-36 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.