2 Samuel 22
1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this verse, in the day that the Lord freed him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
After Yahweh had rescued David from Saul and his other enemies, David sang a song to Yahweh.
2 And he said: “The Lord is my rock, and my strength, and my Savior.
[This is what] he sang: Yahweh, you are like a [huge overhanging] rock [under which I can hide] [MET]; you are like my fortress, and you rescue me.
3 I will hope in him. God is my strong one, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. He lifts me up, and he is my refreshment. You, O my Savior, will free me from iniquity.
Yahweh, you protect me; you are like a shield; you are the powerful one [MET] who saves me; you are like a place where I (find refuge/am safe). You save me from those who act violently toward me.
4 I will call upon the Lord, who is praiseworthy; and I will be saved from my enemies.
I call out to you, Yahweh; you deserve to be praised, and you rescue me from my enemies.
5 For the pangs of death have encircled me. The torrents of Belial have terrified me.
“almost died [PRS]; it was like [MET] a huge wave had crashed over me, and almost destroyed me like a flood.
I thought that I would die; it was as though death wrapped ropes around me; it was as though I was in a trap where I would surely die. [PRS, MET] (Sheol h7585)
7 In my tribulation, I will call upon the Lord, and I will cry out to my God. And he will heed my voice from his temple, and my outcry will reach his ears.
But when I was (very distressed/in great trouble), I called out to you, Yahweh; I cried out to you, my God. And from your temple you heard me; you listened when I called to you to help me.
8 The earth was shaken, and it quaked. The foundations of the mountains were struck together and violently shaken, because he was angry with them.
“Then [it was as though] the earth quaked and shook; [it was as though] the foundations that ([held up/supported]) the sky trembled, because you were angry.
9 Smoke ascends from his nostrils, and fire from his mouth will devour; coals have been kindled by it.
[It was as though] smoke poured out of your nostrils and burning coals and fire that burns everything came out of your mouth.
10 He bent down the heavens, and it descended; and a fog was beneath his feet.
You tore open the sky and came down; there was a thick dark [cloud] under your feet.
11 And he climbed upon the cherubim, and he flew; and he slid upon the wings of the wind.
You rode [through the sky] on a winged creature; the wind enabled you to travel [swiftly] [MET], like a bird.
12 He set darkness as a hiding place around himself, with waters sifted from the clouds of the heavens.
The darkness surrounded you, like a blanket; thick clouds that were full of water also surrounded you.
13 By means of the brightness of his glance, coals of fire were kindled.
Out of the lightning in front of you fire from burning coals flamed.
14 The Lord will thunder from heaven; and the Most High will utter his voice.
Then, Yahweh, you spoke like thunder from the sky; it was your voice, God, you who are greater than all other gods, that was heard.
15 He shot arrows, and he scattered them; lightning, and he consumed them.
When you sent flashes of lightning, [it was as though] [MET] you shot your arrows and scattered your enemies.
16 And the overflow of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the globe were revealed, at the rebuke of the Lord, at the exhale of the breath of his fury.
Then the bottom of the ocean was uncovered; the foundations of the world could be seen when you rebuked [your enemies] with a snort from your nostrils.
17 He sent from on high, and he took me up. And he drew me out of many waters.
“Yahweh, you reached down from heaven and lifted me up; you pulled me up from the deep water.
18 He freed me from my most powerful enemy and from those who had hated me. For they were too strong for me.
You rescued me from my strong enemies, from those who hated me; [I could not defeat them because] they were very strong.
19 He went before me in the day of my affliction, and the Lord became my firmament.
They attacked me when I was experiencing troubles/difficulties, but Yahweh, you protected me.
20 And he led me out to a wide-open place. He freed me, because I was pleasing to him.
You brought me to a place where I was safe; you rescued me because you were pleased with me.
21 The Lord will reward me according to my justice. And he will repay me according to the cleanness of my hands.
“Yahweh, you rewarded me because I do what is right; you did good things for me because I (was innocent/had not done things that are wrong).
22 For I have kept to the ways of the Lord, and I have not acted impiously before my God.
Yahweh, I have obeyed your laws; I have not turned away from you, my God.
23 For all his judgments are in my sight. And I have not removed his precepts from me.
All of your regulations were in my mind, and I did not turn away from [obeying] all your statutes.
24 And I shall be perfect with him. And I shall guard myself from my own iniquity.
You know that I have not done anything that is evil; I have kept myself from doing things for which I should be punished.
25 And the Lord will recompense me according to my justice, and according to the cleanness of my hands in the sight of his eyes.
So you have rewarded me in return for my doing what is right, because [you know that] I (am innocent of doing/have not done) wrong things.
26 With the holy one, you will be holy, and with the strong one, you will be perfect.
“Yahweh, you are faithful/loyal to those who always trust in you; you always do what is good to those whose behavior is always good.
27 With the elect one, you will be elect, and with the perverse one, you will be perverse.
You act sincerely toward those whose inner beings are pure, but you are hostile to those who are perverse/wicked.
28 And you will bring to salvation the poor people, and you will humble the exalted with your eyes.
You rescue those who are humble, but you watch [MTY] those who are proud and humiliate them.
29 For you are my lamp, O Lord. And you, O Lord, will illuminate my darkness.
Yahweh, you are [like] [MET] a lamp that causes it to become light when I am in the dark.
30 For in you, I will run girded. In my God, I will leap over the wall.
With your strength/help I can run through a line of enemy soldiers and I can climb over the wall [that surrounds their city].
31 God, his way is immaculate; the eloquence of the Lord is an exacting fire. He is the shield of all who hope in him.
“My God whom I worship, everything that you do is perfect; you always do what you promise that you will do. You are like a shield [MET] to all those who request you to protect them.
32 Who is God except the Lord? And who is strong except our God?
Yahweh, you are [RHQ] the only one who is God; only you are like a huge rock [MET] [under which we are protected/safe].
33 God, he has girded me with fortitude, and he has made my way perfect:
God, you [whom I worship] are a strong refuge for me; you keep me safe on the roads that I [walk on].
34 making my feet like the feet of the stag, and stationing me upon my exalted places,
[When I walk] in the mountains, you enable me to walk safely, without stumbling [MET] like a deer runs.
35 teaching my hands to do battle, and making my arms like a bow of brass.
You teach me [how to fight] in a battle in order that I can shoot arrows well from a very strong bow.
36 You have given me the shield of your salvation. And your mildness has multiplied me.
[It is as though] [MET] you have given me a shield by which you have saved/rescued me, and you have answered my prayers and caused me to become famous/great.
37 You will enlarge my steps under me, and my ankles will not fail.
You have not allowed [my enemies] to capture me [IDM], and I have not fallen down [during battles].
38 I will pursue my enemies, and crush them. And I will not turn back, until I consume them.
“pursued my enemies and defeated them; I did not stop [fighting them] until they were all killed.
39 I will consume them and break them apart, so that they cannot rise up; they will fall under my feet.
I struck them down; I stabbed them with my sword; they fell down at my feet and did not stand up again.
40 You have girded me with strength for the battle. Those who resisted me, you have bent down under me.
You have given me strength for fighting battles and caused those who were attacking me to fall down, and I trampled on them.
41 You have caused my enemies to turn their back to me; they have hatred for me, and I shall destroy them.
You caused my enemies to turn and run away from me; I destroyed those who hated me.
42 They will cry out, and there will be no one to save; to the Lord, and he will not heed them.
They (looked for/wanted) someone to rescue them, but no one did. They cried out to you, Yahweh, [for help, ] but you did not answer them.
43 I will wipe them away like the dust of the earth. I will break them apart and crush them, like the mud of the streets.
I crushed them, and as a result they became like [SIM] tiny particles of dust. I trampled them, and they became like [SIM] mud in the streets.
44 You will save me from the contradictions of my people. You will preserve me to be the head of the Gentiles; a people I do not know shall serve me.
“You rescued me from those who tried to rebel [against me], and you appointed me to rule many nations; people whom I did not know previously are now (under my authority/my slaves).
45 The sons of foreigners, who will resist me, at the hearing of the ear they will be obedient to me.
Foreigners humbly bowed down in front of me; as soon as they heard about me, they obeyed me.
46 The foreigners flowed away, but they will be drawn together in their anguishes.
They became afraid, and they came to me, trembling, from the places where they were hiding.
47 The Lord lives, and my God is blessed. And the strong God of my salvation shall be exalted.
“Yahweh, you are alive! I praise you! You are like [MET] a [huge overhanging] rock under which I am safe/protected! You are the one who rescues me [MET]. Everyone should exalt/honor/praise you.
48 God gives me vindication, and he casts down the peoples under me.
You enable me to conquer my enemies; you cause people of [other] nations to be (under my authority/my slaves).
49 He leads me away from my enemies, and he lifts me up from those who resist me. You will free me from the iniquitous man.
You delivered me from my enemies; you caused me to be honored more than they were; you rescued me from men who [always] acted violently.
50 Because of this, I will confess to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name:
Because of all that, I exalt you among many people-groups and I sing to praise you.
51 magnifying the salvation of his king, and showing mercy to David, his Christ, and to his offspring forever.”
You enable me, whom you appointed to be king, to powerfully conquer [my enemies]; you faithfully love me, David, and you will love my descendants forever.
