2 Samuel 22:1

David Sings to the Lord

22:1 ¹ David sang ²  to the Lord the words of this song when ³  the Lord rescued him from the power ⁴  of all his enemies, including Saul. ⁵ 

2 Samuel 22:1

David Sings to the Lord

22:1 ⁶ David sang ⁷  to the Lord the words of this song when ⁸  the Lord rescued him from the power ⁹  of all his enemies, including Saul. ¹⁰ 

1 Samuel 31:6

31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together that day.

Mazmur 18:37-42

18:37 I chase my enemies and catch ¹¹  them;

I do not turn back until I wipe them out.

18:38 I beat them ¹²  to death; ¹³ 

they fall at my feet. ¹⁴ 

18:39 You give me strength ¹⁵  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ¹⁶ 

18:40 You make my enemies retreat; ¹⁷ 

I destroy those who hate me. ¹⁸ 

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; ¹⁹ 

they cry out to the Lord, ²⁰  but he does not answer them.

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; ²¹ 

I beat them underfoot ²²  like clay ²³  in the streets.

Mazmur 89:23

89:23 I will crush his enemies before him;

I will strike down those who hate him.

[22:1]  ¹ sn In this long song of thanks, David affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. His experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the song appears in Ps 18.

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “spoke.”

[22:1]  ³ tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”

[22:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “hand.”

[22:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”

[22:1]  ⁶ sn In this long song of thanks, David affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. His experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the song appears in Ps 18.

[22:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “spoke.”

[22:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”

[22:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

[22:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”

[18:37]  ¹¹ tn 2 Sam 22:38 reads “destroy.”

[18:38]  ¹² tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”

[18:38]  ¹³ tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”

[18:38]  ¹⁴ sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.

[18:39]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[18:39]  sn My foes kneel before me. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 268.

[18:40]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.

[18:40]  ¹⁸ sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the Lord who delivered the psalmist from those who hated him.

[18:41]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[18:41]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to the Lord.” The words “they cry out” are supplied in the translation because they are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[18:41]  sn They cry out. This reference to the psalmist’s enemies crying out for help to the Lord suggests that the psalmist refers here to enemies within the covenant community, rather than foreigners. However, the militaristic context suggests foreign enemies are in view. Ancient Near Eastern literature indicates that defeated enemies would sometimes cry out for mercy to the god(s) of their conqueror. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 271.

[18:42]  ²¹ tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”

[18:42]  ²² tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.

[18:42]  ²³ tn Or “mud.”