2 Samuel 22:1-51
22 And David proceeded to speak to Jehovah the words of this song+ in the day that Jehovah had delivered him out of the palm of all his enemies+ and out of Saul’s palm;+
2 and he went on to say:
“Jehovah is my crag+ and my stronghold+ and the Provider of escape for me.+
3 My God is my rock.+ I shall take refuge in him,My shield+ and my horn+ of salvation, my secure height,+And my place for flight,+ my Savior;+ from violence you save me.+
4 On the One to be praised,+ Jehovah, I shall call,And from my enemies I shall be saved.+
5 For deadly breaking waves encircled me;+There were flash floods of good-for-nothing [men] that kept terrifying me.+
6 The ropes of Sheʹol* themselves surrounded me;+The snares of death confronted me.+
7 In my distress I kept calling upon Jehovah,+And to my God I kept calling.+Then out of his temple he heard my voice,+With my cry for help in his ears.+
8 And back and forth the earth began to shake and to rock;+The foundations of the heavens themselves became agitated,+And they kept shaking back and forth because he had been angered.+
9 Smoke went up at his nostrils, and fire itself from his mouth kept devouring;+Coals themselves blazed up from him.+
10 And he proceeded to bend the heavens down and to descend;+And thick gloom was beneath his feet.+
11 And he came riding upon a cherub+ and came flying;And he was visible* upon the wings of a spirit.*+
12 Then he put a darkness around him as booths,+Dark waters,* thick clouds.+
13 From the brightness in front of him burning coals of fire blazed up.+
14 From heaven Jehovah began to thunder,+And the Most High himself began to give forth his voice.+
15 And he kept sending out arrows, that he might scatter them;+Lightning, that he might throw them into confusion.+
16 And the streambeds of the sea became visible,+The foundations of the productive land*+ became uncovered,At the rebuke of Jehovah, from the blast of the breath* of his nostrils.+
17 He was sending from on high, he was taking me,+He was drawing me out of great waters.+
18 He was delivering me from my strong enemy,+From those hating me; because they were stronger than I was.+
19 They kept confronting me in the day of my disaster,+But Jehovah became my support.+
20 And he proceeded to bring me out into a roomy place;+He was rescuing me, because he had found delight in me.+
21 Jehovah rewards me according to my righteousness;+According to the cleanness of my hands he repays me.+
22 For I have kept the ways of Jehovah,+And I have not wickedly departed from my God.+
23 For all his judicial decisions+ are in front of me;And as for his statutes, I shall not turn aside from them.*+
24 And I shall prove myself faultless+ toward him,And I will keep myself from error on my part.+
25 And let Jehovah repay me according to my righteousness,+According to my cleanness in front of his eyes.+
26 With someone loyal you will act in loyalty;+With the faultless, mighty one you will deal faultlessly;+
27 With the one keeping clean you will show yourself clean,+And with the crooked one you will act as silly.+
28 And the humble people you will save;+But your eyes are against the haughty ones, [that] you may bring [them] low.*+
29 For you are my lamp, O Jehovah,+And it is Jehovah that makes my darkness shine.+
30 For by you I can run against a marauder band;+By my God I can climb a wall.+
31 As for the [true] God, perfect is his way;+The saying of Jehovah is a refined one.+A shield he is to all those taking refuge in him.+
32 For who is a God* besides Jehovah,+And who is a rock besides our God?*+
33 The [true] God is my strong fortress,*+And he will cause my way to be perfect,+
34 Making* my feet like those of the hinds;+And upon places high for me he keeps me standing.+
35 He is teaching my hands for warfare;+And my arms have pressed down a bow of copper.+
36 And you will give me your shield of salvation,+And it is your humility that makes me great.+
37 You will make room large enough for my steps under me;+And my ankles will certainly not wobble.+
38 I will pursue my enemies, that I may annihilate them,And I shall not return until they are exterminated.+
39 And I shall exterminate them and break them in pieces,+ that they may not rise up;+And they will fall under my feet.+
40 And you will gird me with vital energy for the battle;+You will make those rising against me collapse under me.+
41 And as for my enemies, you will certainly give me the back of their neck;+Those hating me intensely—I shall also silence them.+
42 They cry for help, but there is no savior;+To Jehovah, but he actually does not answer them.+
43 And I shall pound them fine like the dust of the earth;Like the mire of the streets I shall pulverize them;+I shall beat them flat.
44 And you will provide me escape from the faultfinding of my people.+You will safeguard me to be the head of nations;+A people that I have not known—they will serve me.+
45 Foreigners themselves will come cringing to me;+Ears will be obedient to hear me.+
46 Foreigners* themselves will fade away,And they will come quaking out from their bulwarks.+
47 Jehovah is living;+ and blessed be my Rock;+And let the God of the rock of my salvation be exalted.+
48 The [true] God is the Giver of acts of vengeance to me+And the One bringing the peoples down under me,+
49 And the One bringing me out from my enemies.+And above those who rise up against me you will lift me up;+From the man of violent deeds you will deliver me.+
50 That is why I shall thank you, O Jehovah, among the nations;+And to your name I shall make melody:+
51 The One doing great acts of salvation for his king+And exercising loving-kindness* to his anointed one,*+To David and to his seed* for time indefinite.”+
Footnotes
^ “Sheol.” Heb., sheʼohlʹ; Syr., da·shiul; Vgc(Lat.), in·ferʹni; Gr., tha·naʹtou, “death.” See App 4B.
^ Or, “wings of wind.”
^ Lit., “darkness of waters.”
^ “Productive land.” Heb., te·velʹ; Gr., oi·kou·meʹnes, “inhabited earth,” the same word as in Mt 24:14; Lat., orʹbis, “[terrestrial] circle.”
^ “Breath of.” Heb., ruʹach; Gr., pneuʹma·tos.
^ Lit., “it,” fem.
^ Lit., “but your eyes you will lower against the haughty ones.”
^ “Who is a God,” M(Heb., mi-ʼElʹ)Vg; LXX, “who is a Strong One.”
^ “Our God.” Heb., ʼElo·hehʹnu; Gr., The·ouʹ; Lat., Deʹum.
^ In agreement with Ps 18:32, this text might be corrected to read: “The [true] God is girding me with vital energy.”
^ Or, “setting.”
^ Lit., “Sons of a foreign (country).”
^ Or, “loyal love.”
^ “To his anointed one.” Heb., lim·shi·chohʹ; Gr., khri·stoiʹ; Syr., lam·shi·cheh; Lat., chriʹsto.
^ Or, “offspring; posterity.”
