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 22:21-37

22:21 The Lord repaid ⁶  me for my godly deeds; ⁷ 

he rewarded ⁸  my blameless behavior. ⁹ 

22:22 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; ¹⁰ 

I have not rebelled against my God. ¹¹ 

22:23 For I am aware of all his regulations, ¹² 

and I do not reject his rules. ¹³ 

22:24 I was blameless before him;

I kept myself from sinning. ¹⁴ 

22:25 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; ¹⁵ 

he took notice of my blameless behavior. ¹⁶ 

22:26 You prove to be loyal ¹⁷  to one who is faithful; ¹⁸ 

you prove to be trustworthy ¹⁹  to one who is innocent. ²⁰ 

22:27 You prove to be reliable ²¹  to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive ²²  to one who is perverse. ²³ 

22:28 You deliver oppressed ²⁴  people,

but you watch the proud and bring them down. ²⁵ 

22:29 Indeed, ²⁶  you are my lamp, ²⁷  Lord.

The Lord illumines ²⁸  the darkness around me. ²⁹ 

22:30 Indeed, ³⁰ with your help ³¹  I can charge ³²  against an army; ³³ 

by my God’s power ³⁴  I can jump over a wall. ³⁵ 

22:31 The one true God acts in a faithful manner; ³⁶ 

the Lord’s promise is reliable; ³⁷ 

he is a shield to all who take shelter in him.

22:32 Indeed, ³⁸  who is God besides the Lord?

Who is a protector ³⁹  besides our God? ⁴⁰ 

22:33 The one true God ⁴¹  is my mighty refuge; ⁴² 

he removes ⁴³  the obstacles in my way. ⁴⁴ 

22:34 He gives me the agility of a deer; ⁴⁵ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ⁴⁶ 

22:35 He trains ⁴⁷  my hands for battle; ⁴⁸ 

my arms can bend even the strongest bow. ⁴⁹ 

22:36 You give me ⁵⁰  your protective shield; ⁵¹ 

your willingness to help enables me to prevail. ⁵² 

22:37 You widen my path; ⁵³ 

my feet ⁵⁴  do not slip.

[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.”

[22:21]  ⁶ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.

[22:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” As vv. 22-25 make clear, David refers here to his unwavering obedience to God’s commands. He explains that the Lord was pleased with him and willing to deliver him because he had been loyal to God and obedient to his commandments. Ancient Near Eastern literature contains numerous parallels. A superior (a god or king) would typically reward a subject (a king or the servant of a king, respectively) for loyalty and obedience. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 211-13.

[22:21]  ⁸ tn The unreduced Hiphil prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, in which case the psalmist would be generalizing. However, both the preceding and following contexts (see especially v. 25) suggest he is narrating his experience. Despite its unreduced form, the verb is better taken as a preterite. For other examples of unreduced Hiphil preterites, see Pss 55:14a; 68:9a, 10b; 80:8a; 89:43a; 107:38b; 116:6b.

[22:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands he repaid to me.” Hands suggest activity and behavior.

[22:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the Lord.” The phrase “ways of the Lord” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord (see HALOT 232 s.v. דֶרֶךְ). In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

[22:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical, the idea being, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”

[22:23]  ¹² tn Heb “for all his regulations are before me.” The term מִשְׁפָּטָו (mishpatav, “his regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.

[22:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” Ps 18:22 reads, “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; David here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).

[22:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way. Leading a “blameless” life meant that the king would be loyal to God’s covenant, purge the government and society of evil and unjust officials, and reward loyalty to the Lord (see Ps 101).

[22:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” See v. 21.

[22:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to my purity before his eyes.”

[22:26]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 26-30 draw attention to God’s characteristic actions. Based on his experience, the psalmist generalizes about God’s just dealings with people (vv. 26-28) and about the way in which God typically empowers him on the battlefield (vv. 29-30). The Hitpael stem is used in vv. 26-27 in a reflexive resultative (or causative) sense. God makes himself loyal, etc. in the sense that he conducts or reveals himself as such. On this use of the Hitpael stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

[22:26]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to a faithful follower.” A חָסִיד (khasid, “faithful follower”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[22:26]  ¹⁹ tn Or “innocent.”

[22:26]  ²⁰ tc Heb “a warrior of innocence.” The parallel text in Ps 18:25 reads, probably correctly, גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”) instead of גִּבּוֹר (gibor, “warrior”).

[22:27]  ²¹ tn Or “blameless.”

[22:27]  ²² tc The translation follows two medieval Hebrew mss in reading תִּתְפַּתָּל (titpattal, from the root פתל, “to twist”) rather than the MT תִּתַּפָּל (tittappal, from the root תפל, “to be tasteless,” “behave silly”; cf. KJV “unsavoury”). See as well the parallel passage in Ps 18:26. The verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words. Cf. NAB, NASB “astute”; NIV “shrewd”; NRSV “perverse”; TEV, NLT “hostile.”

[22:27]  ²³ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted; crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20) and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4). Verses 26-27 affirm God’s justice. He responds to people in accordance with their moral character. His response mirrors their actions. The faithful and blameless find God to be loyal and reliable in his dealings with them. But deceivers discover he is able and willing to use deceit to destroy them. For a more extensive discussion of the theme of divine deception in the OT, see R. B. Chisholm, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28.

[22:28]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “humble” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT; note the contrast with those who are proud).

[22:28]  ²⁵ tc Heb “but your eyes are upon the proud, you bring low.” Ps 18:27 reads “but proud eyes you bring low.”

[22:29]  ²⁶ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:29]  ²⁷ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss, some LXX mss, and the Syriac Peshitta support reading תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you cause to shine”) before the words “my lamp.” See Ps 18:28. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

[22:29]  ²⁸ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Vulgate understand this verb to be second person rather than third person as in the MT. But this is probably the result of reading the preceding word “Lord” as a vocative under the influence of the vocative in the first part of the verse.

[22:29]  ²⁹ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[22:30]  ³⁰ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:30]  ³¹ tn Heb “by you.”

[22:30]  ³² tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 30 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [literally, “cause to run”] an army.”

[22:30]  ³³ tn More specifically, the noun refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops (see HALOT 177 s.v. II גְדוּד). The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.

[22:30]  ³⁴ tn Heb “by my God.”

[22:30]  ³⁵ tn David uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.

[22:31]  ³⁶ tn Heb “[As for] the God, his way is blameless.” The term הָאֵל (ha’el, “the God”) stands as a nominative (or genitive) absolute in apposition to the resumptive pronominal suffix on “way.” The prefixed article emphasizes his distinctiveness as the one true God (see BDB 42 s.v. II אֵל 6; Deut 33:26). God’s “way” in this context refers to his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 103:7; 138:5; 145:17).

[22:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the word of the Lord is purified.” The Lord’s “word” probably refers here to his oracle(s) of victory delivered to the psalmist before the battle(s) described in the following context. See also Pss 12:5-7 and 138:2-3. David frequently received such oracles before going into battle (see 1 Sam 23:2, 4-5, 10-12; 30:8; 2 Sam 5:19). The Lord’s word of promise is absolutely reliable; it is compared to metal that has been refined in fire and cleansed of impurities. See Ps 12:6. In the ancient Near East kings would typically seek and receive oracles from their god(s) prior to battle. For examples, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 241-42.

[22:32]  ³⁸ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:32]  ³⁹ tn Heb “rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor of protection.

[22:32]  ⁴⁰ tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “No one.” In this way the psalmist indicates that the Lord is the only true God and reliable source of protection. See also Deut 32:39, where the Lord affirms that he is the only true God. Note as well the emphasis on his role as protector (צוּר, tsur, “rocky cliff”) in Deut 32:4, 15, 17-18, 30.

[22:33]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the God.” See the note at v. 31.

[22:33]  ⁴² tc 4QSam^a has מְאַזְּרֵנִי (mÿ’azzÿreni, “the one girding me with strength”) rather than the MT מָעוּזִּי (ma’uzzi, “my refuge”). See as well Ps 18:32.

[22:33]  ⁴³ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive here carries along the generalizing tone of the preceding line.

[22:33]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he sets free (from the verb נָתַר, natar) [the] blameless, his [Kethib; “my” (Qere)] way.” The translation follows Ps 18:32 in reading “he made my path smooth.” The term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[22:34]  ⁴⁵ tc Heb “[the one who] makes his feet like [those of] a deer.” The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading רַגְלַי (raglai, “my feet”) rather than the MT רַגְלָיו (raglav, “his feet”). See as well Ps 18:33.

[22:34]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and on my high places he makes me walk.” The imperfect verbal form emphasizes God’s characteristic provision. The psalmist compares his agility in battle to the ability of a deer to negotiate rugged, high terrain without falling or being injured. Habakkuk uses similar language to describe his faith during difficult times. See Hab 3:19.

[22:35]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “teaches.”

[22:35]  ⁴⁸ tn The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enabling. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.

[22:35]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms.” The verb נָחֵת (nakhet) apparently means “to pull back; to bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The bronze bow referred to here was probably laminated with bronze strips, or a purely ceremonial or decorative bow made entirely from bronze. In the latter case the language is hyperbolic, for such a weapon would not be functional in battle.

[22:36]  ⁵⁰ tn Another option is to translate the prefixed verb with vav consecutive with a past tense, “you gave me.” Several prefixed verbal forms with vav consecutive also appear in vv. 38-44. The present translation understands this section as a description of what generally happened when the author charged into battle, but another option is to understand the section as narrative and translate accordingly.

[22:36]  ⁵¹ tc Ps 18:35 contains an additional line following this one, which reads “your right hand supports me.” It may be omitted here due to homoioarcton. See the note at Ps 18:35.

[22:36]  tn Heb “and you give me the shield of your deliverance”; KJV, ASV “the shield of thy (your NRSV, NLT) salvation”; NIV “your shield of victory.” Ancient Near Eastern literature often refers to a god giving a king special weapons. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 260-61.

[22:36]  ⁵² tn Heb “your answer makes me great.” David refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer.

[22:37]  ⁵³ tn Heb “step.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives him the capacity to run quickly.

[22:37]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”