2 Samuel 22

1 And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day [that] the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul:
2 And he said, The LORD [is] my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: [he is] my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my preserver; thou savest me from violence.
4 I will call on the LORD, [who is] worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.
5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly-men made me afraid;
6 The sorrows of hell encompassed me; the snares of death seized me;
7 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry [entered] into his ears.
8 Then the earth shook and trembled: the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.
9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness [was] under his feet.
11 And he rode upon a cherub, and flew: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
12 And he made darkness pavilions around him, dark waters, [and] thick clouds of the skies.
13 Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
14 The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.
15 And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.
16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid open, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
17 He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;
18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.
19 They fell upon me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my support.
20 He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
21 The LORD 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 the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
23 For all his judgments [were] before me: and [as for] his statutes, I did not depart from them.
24 I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from my iniquity.
25 Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye-sight.
26 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, [and] with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.
27 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt contend.
28 And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thy eyes [are] upon the haughty, [that] thou mayest bring [them] down.
29 For thou [art] my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.
30 For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.
31 [As for] God, his way [is] perfect; the word of the LORD [is] tried: he [is] a buckler to all them that trust in him.
32 For who [is] God, save the LORD? and who [is] a rock, save our God?
33 God [is] my strength [and] power: and he maketh my way perfect.
34 He maketh my feet like hinds' [feet]: and setteth me upon my high places.
35 He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms.
36 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.
37 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet have not slipped.
38 I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.
39 And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they have fallen under my feet.
40 For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.
41 Thou hast also given me the necks of my enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.
42 They looked, but [there was] none to save; [even] to the LORD, but he answered them not.
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 my people, thou hast kept me [to be] head of the heathen: a people [which] I knew not shall serve me.
45 Strangers shall submit themselves to me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient to me.
46 Strangers shall fade away, and they shall tremble from their close places.
47 The LORD liveth; and blessed [be] my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
48 It [is] God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me,
49 And that bringeth me forth from my enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
50 Therefore I will give thanks to thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises to thy name.
51 [He is] the tower of salvation for his king: and [he] showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

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2 Samuel 22 Commentary

Chapter 22

David's psalm of thanksgiving.

- This chapter is a psalm of praise; we find it afterwards nearly as ( Psalms 18 ) . They that trust God in the way of duty, shall find him a present help in their greatest dangers: David did so. Remarkable preservations should be particularly mentioned in our praises. We shall never be delivered from all enemies till we ( 2 Timothy. 4:18 ) Those who receive signal mercies from God, ought to give him the glory. In the day that God delivered David, he sang this song. While the mercy is fresh, and we are most affected with it, let the thank-offering be brought, to be kindled with the fire of that affection. All his joys and hopes close, as all our hopes should do, in the great Redeemer.

Chapter Summary

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.

2 Samuel 22 Commentaries

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