2 Samuel 22:38-48

38 I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them and did not return until I had consumed them.
39 And I consumed them and wounded them, and they did not arise; they are fallen under my feet.
40 For thou hast girded me with strength for the battle; thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
41 Thou hast given me the necks of my enemies, of those that hate me, that I might cut them off.
42 They looked, but there was no one to save them; even unto the LORD, but he did not answer them.
43 Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth; I stamped them as the mire of the street and spread them abroad.
44 Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of peoples; thou hast kept me to be head of the Gentiles; peoples whom I did not know have served me.
45 The strangers trembled before my command; as soon as they heard, they obeyed me.
46 The strangers withered away and trembled in their close places.
47 The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God who is the rock of my salvation.
48 The God who has given me revenge and who subjects the peoples under me,

2 Samuel 22:38-48 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.

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010