2 Samuel 22

David’s Song of Praise

1 David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

2 He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield^[a] and the horn^[b] of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.

4 “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies.

5 The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

6 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

7 “In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.

8 The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens^[c] shook; they trembled because he was angry.

9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared^[d] on the wings of the wind.

12 He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark^[e] rain clouds of the sky.

13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth.

14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

15 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them.

16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.

17 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

20 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

21 “The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I am not guilty of turning from my God.

23 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.

24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.

25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness^[f] in his sight.

26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

27 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.

29 You, LORD, are my lamp; the LORD turns my darkness into light.

30 With your help I can advance against a troop^[g] ; with my God I can scale a wall.

31 “As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.

32 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

33 It is God who arms me with strength^[h] and keeps my way secure.

34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.

35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

36 You make your saving help my shield; your help has made^[i] me great.

37 You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.

38 “I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.

40 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.

41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.

42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but he did not answer.

43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.

44 “You have delivered me from the attacks of the peoples; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me,

45 foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.

46 They all lose heart; they come trembling^[j] from their strongholds.

47 “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!

48 He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me,

49 who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me.

50 Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.

51 “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”

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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.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 87

1. S Exodus 15:1; Judges 5:1; Psalms 18:2-50
2. S 1 Samuel 2:2; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 71:3
3. Psalms 31:3; Psalms 91:2
4. Psalms 144:2
5. S Deuteronomy 23:15; S Deuteronomy 32:37; Psalms 14:6; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 59:16; Psalms 71:7; Psalms 91:2; Psalms 94:22; Proverbs 10:29; Isaiah 25:4; Jeremiah 16:19; Joel 3:16
6. S Genesis 15:1
7. S Deuteronomy 33:17; S Luke 1:69
8. Psalms 9:9; Psalms 52:7
9. Psalms 48:1; Psalms 96:4; Psalms 145:3
10. Psalms 69:14-15; Psalms 93:4; John 2:3
11. Psalms 116:3; Acts 2:24
12. Genesis 35:3; S Judges 2:15; 2 Chronicles 15:4; Psalms 4:1; Psalms 77:2; Psalms 120:1; Isaiah 26:16
13. Psalms 34:6,15; Psalms 116:4
14. Judges 5:4; Psalms 97:4
15. S Exodus 19:18; S Judges 5:4; Psalms 68:8; Psalms 77:18; Jeremiah 10:10
16. Job 9:6; Job 26:11; Psalms 75:3
17. Psalms 50:3; Psalms 97:3; Hebrews 12:29; S Revelation 11:5
18. Isaiah 6:6; Ezekiel 1:13; Ezekiel 10:2
19. S Exodus 19:9; Leviticus 16:2; S Deuteronomy 33:26; 1 Kings 8:12; Job 26:9; Psalms 104:3; Isaiah 19:1; Jeremiah 4:13; Nahum 1:3
20. S Genesis 3:24; S Exodus 25:22
21. Psalms 104:3
22. S Exodus 19:9
23. ver 9; Job 37:3; Psalms 77:18
24. S 1 Samuel 2:10
25. S Deuteronomy 32:23
26. Psalms 6:1; Psalms 50:8,21; Psalms 106:9; Nahum 1:4
27. S Exodus 14:21; Isaiah 30:33; Isaiah 40:24
28. Psalms 144:7
29. Exodus 2:10
30. Luke 1:71
31. Psalms 23:4
32. Job 36:16; Psalms 31:8
33. Psalms 118:5
34. Psalms 22:8; Isaiah 42:1; Matthew 12:18
35. S 2 Samuel 15:26
36. S 1 Samuel 26:23
37. Psalms 26:6
38. Job 17:9; Job 22:30; Job 42:7-8; Psalms 24:4
39. Genesis 18:19; Psalms 128:1; Proverbs 8:32
40. Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalms 119:30-32
41. Psalms 119:102
42. S Genesis 6:9; Ephesians 1:4
43. ver 21; S 1 Samuel 26:23
44. Matthew 5:8
45. Leviticus 26:23-24
46. S Exodus 3:8; 1 Samuel 2:8-9; Psalms 72:12-13
47. Psalms 131:1; Proverbs 30:13; Daniel 4:31; Zephaniah 3:11
48. Isaiah 2:12,17; Isaiah 5:15; S Luke 1:51
49. Psalms 27:1; Isaiah 2:5; Micah 7:8; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5
50. S Deuteronomy 32:4; Matthew 5:48
51. Psalms 12:6; Psalms 119:140; Proverbs 30:5-6
52. S Genesis 15:1
53. S 1 Samuel 2:2
54. S 2 Samuel 7:22
55. Isaiah 35:6; Habakkuk 3:19
56. S Deuteronomy 32:13
57. Psalms 144:1
58. Psalms 7:12; Psalms 11:2; Zechariah 9:13
59. Ephesians 6:16
60. Proverbs 4:11
61. Psalms 44:5; Psalms 110:6; Malachi 4:3
62. S Joshua 10:24; S 1 Kings 5:3; Psalms 44:5
63. S Exodus 23:27
64. Isaiah 1:15
65. Psalms 50:22
66. S 1 Samuel 14:37
67. 1 Kings 20:10; 2 Kings 13:7; Isaiah 41:2; Amos 1:3
68. Psalms 7:5; Isaiah 41:25; Micah 7:10; Zechariah 10:5
69. Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 10:6; Isaiah 22:5; Micah 7:10
70. S Exodus 11:3; S 2 Samuel 3:1
71. Deuteronomy 28:13
72. S 2 Samuel 8:1-14; Isaiah 55:3-5
73. Psalms 66:3; Psalms 81:15
74. S Deuteronomy 33:29
75. Micah 7:17
76. S Exodus 15:2
77. Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalms 18:31; Psalms 89:26; Psalms 95:1
78. S Numbers 31:3
79. Psalms 94:1; Psalms 144:2; 1 Samuel 25:39
80. Psalms 140:1,4
81. Psalms 27:6
82. Psalms 9:11; Psalms 47:6; Psalms 68:4
83. Romans 15:9*
84. Psalms 21:1; Psalms 144:9-10
85. 1 Samuel 16:13; Psalms 89:20; Acts 13:23
86. S 2 Samuel 7:13
87. Psalms 89:24,29

Footnotes 10

[a]. Or "sovereign"
[b]. "Horn" here symbolizes strength.
[c]. Hebrew; Vulgate and Syriac (see also Psalm 18:7) "mountains"
[d]. Many Hebrew manuscripts (see also Psalm 18:10); most Hebrew manuscripts "appeared"
[e]. Septuagint (see also Psalm 18:11); Hebrew "massed"
[f]. Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate (see also Psalm 18:24) "to the cleanness of my hands"
[g]. Or "can run through a barricade"
[h]. Dead Sea Scrolls, some Septuagint manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Psalm 18:32); Masoretic Text "who is my strong refuge"
[i]. Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text "shield;" / "you stoop down to make"
[j]. Some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate (see also Psalm 18:45); Masoretic Text "they arm themselves"

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible