2 Samuel 22

New American Standard Bible

David’s Psalm of Deliverance

22 ^(A)Now David spoke ^(B)the words of this song to the Lord on the day that the Lord had saved him from the ^[a]hand of all his enemies and from the ^[b]hand of Saul. ²He said,

“^(C)The Lord is my ^[c]rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
³^[d]^(D)My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My ^(E)shield and ^(F)the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and ^(G)my refuge;
My savior, You save me from violence.
⁴I call upon the Lord, ^(H)who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
⁵For ^(I)the waves of death encompassed me;
^(J)The floods of ^[e]destruction terrified me;
⁶^(K)The ropes of ^[f]Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
⁷^(L)In my distress I called upon the Lord,
Yes, I called out to my God;
And from His temple He heard my voice,
And my cry for help came into His ears.
⁸Then ^(M)the earth shook and quaked,
^(N)The foundations of heaven were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
⁹Smoke went up ^[g]out of His nostrils,
^(O)And fire from His mouth was devouring;
^(P)Coals were kindled by it.
¹⁰He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down
With ^(Q)thick darkness under His feet.
¹¹^(R)He rode on a cherub and flew;
He ^[h]appeared on ^(S)the wings of the wind.
¹²^(T)He made darkness canopies around Him,
A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.
¹³From the brightness before Him
^(U)Coals of fire were kindled.
¹⁴^(V)The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
¹⁵^(W)And He shot arrows and scattered them,
Lightning, and ^[i]routed them.
¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were exposed
By the rebuke of the Lord,
^(X)From the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
¹⁷^(Y)He sent from on high, He took me;
^(Z)He drew me out of many waters.
¹⁸He rescued me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
¹⁹They confronted me on the day of my disaster,
^(AA)But the Lord was my support.
²⁰^(AB)He also brought me out into an open place;
He rescued me, ^(AC)because He delighted in me.
²¹^(AD)The Lord has treated me in accordance with my righteousness;
^(AE)In accordance with the cleanliness of my hands He has repaid me.
²²^(AF)For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
²³^(AG)For all His ordinances were before me,
And as for His statutes, I did not deviate from ^[j]them.
²⁴^(AH)I was also ^[k]blameless toward Him,
And I have kept myself from my wrongdoing.
²⁵^(AI)So the Lord has repaid me in accordance with my righteousness,
In accordance with my cleanliness before His eyes.
²⁶^(AJ)With the one who is faithful You show Yourself faithful,
With the ^[l]blameless one You prove Yourself ^[m]blameless;
²⁷^(AK)With the one who is pure You show Yourself pure,
^(AL)But with the perverted You ^[n]show Yourself astute.
²⁸^(AM)And You save an afflicted people;
^(AN)But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You humiliate.
²⁹^(AO)For You are my lamp, Lord;
And the Lord illuminates my darkness.
³⁰^(AP)For by You I can run at a ^[o]troop of warriors;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
³¹^(AQ)As for God, His way is ^[p]blameless;
^(AR)The word of the Lord is refined;
^(AS)He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
³²^(AT)For who is God, except the Lord?
^(AU)And who is a rock, except our God?
³³^(AV)God is my strong fortress;
And He ^[q]sets the ^[r]blameless on ^[s]His way.
³⁴^(AW)He makes ^[t]my feet like deer’s feet,
^(AX)And sets me on my high places.
³⁵^(AY)He trains my hands for battle,
^(AZ)So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁶You have also given me ^(BA)the shield of Your salvation,
And Your ^[u]help makes me great.
³⁷^(BB)You enlarge my steps under me,
And my ^[v]feet have not slipped.
³⁸I pursued my enemies and ^(BC)eliminated them,
And I did not turn back until they were finished off.
³⁹And I have devoured them and smashed them, so that they would not rise;
And ^(BD)they fell under my feet.
⁴⁰For You have encircled me with strength for battle;
You have forced ^(BE)those who rose up against me to bow down under me.
⁴¹You have also ^(BF)made my enemies turn their backs to me,
And I ^[w]destroyed those who hated me.
⁴²^(BG)They looked, but there was no one to save them;
^(BH)Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
⁴³^(BI)Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth;
^(BJ)I crushed and trampled them like the mud of the streets.
⁴⁴^(BK)You have also saved me from the contentions of my people;
^(BL)You have kept me as head of the nations;
^(BM)A people I have not known serve me.
⁴⁵^(BN)Foreigners pretend to obey me;
As soon as they hear, they obey me.
⁴⁶Foreigners lose heart,
^(BO)And ^[x]come trembling out of their fortresses.
⁴⁷The Lord lives, and blessed be my Rock;
And exalted be ^[y]^(BP)my God, the rock of my salvation,
⁴⁸^(BQ)The God who executes vengeance for me,
^(BR)And brings down peoples under me,
⁴⁹Who also brings me out from my enemies;
You also raise me above ^(BS)those who rise up against me;
^(BT)You rescue me from the violent person.
⁵⁰^(BU)Therefore I will ^[z]give thanks to You, Lord, among the nations,
And I will sing praises to Your name.
⁵¹^(BV)He is a tower of ^[aa]salvation to His king,
And ^(BW)shows favor to His anointed,
^(BX)To David and his ^[ab]descendants forever.”

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Footnotes

2 Samuel 22:1 Lit palm
2 Samuel 22:1 Lit palm
2 Samuel 22:2 Lit crag
2 Samuel 22:3 As in LXX; MT God of my rock
2 Samuel 22:5 Or wickedness; Heb Belial
2 Samuel 22:6 I.e., the netherworld
2 Samuel 22:9 I.e., in his anger
2 Samuel 22:11 Many mss glided
2 Samuel 22:15 Lit confused
2 Samuel 22:23 Lit it
2 Samuel 22:24 Lit complete; or having integrity
2 Samuel 22:26 Lit complete; or having integrity
2 Samuel 22:26 Lit complete; or having integrity
2 Samuel 22:27 As in two Heb mss and Ps 18:26; MT pretend stupidity
2 Samuel 22:30 Or wall
2 Samuel 22:31 Lit complete; or having integrity
2 Samuel 22:33 Or sets free
2 Samuel 22:33 Lit complete; or having integrity
2 Samuel 22:33 Another reading is my
2 Samuel 22:34 Another reading is His
2 Samuel 22:36 Lit answering
2 Samuel 22:37 Lit ankles
2 Samuel 22:41 Or silenced
2 Samuel 22:46 Reading based on Ps 18:45; MT belt up themselves
2 Samuel 22:47 As in LXX; MT the God of the rock
2 Samuel 22:50 Or praise
2 Samuel 22:51 Lit acts of salvation
2 Samuel 22:51 Lit seed

Psalm 18

New American Standard Bible

The Lord Praised for Rescuing David.

For the music director. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, ^[a]who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,

18 “I love You, Lord, ^(A)my strength.”
²The Lord is ^(B)my rock and ^(C)my fortress and my ^(D)savior,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My ^(E)shield and the ^(F)horn of my salvation, my ^(G)stronghold.
³I call upon the Lord, who is ^(H)worthy to be praised,
And I am ^(I)saved from my enemies.

⁴The ^(J)ropes of death encompassed me,
And the ^(K)torrents of ^[b]destruction ^[c]terrified me.
⁵The ^(L)ropes of ^[d]Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
⁶In my ^(M)distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice ^(N)from His temple,
And my ^(O)cry for help before Him came into His ears.

⁷Then the ^(P)earth shook and quaked;
And the ^(Q)foundations of the mountains were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
⁸Smoke went up ^[e]out of His nostrils,
And ^(R)fire from His mouth was devouring;
Coals burned from it.
⁹He also ^(S)bowed the heavens down low, and came down
With thick ^(T)darkness under His feet.
¹⁰He rode on a ^(U)cherub and flew;
And He sped on the ^(V)wings of the wind.
¹¹He made ^(W)darkness His hiding place, ^(X)His ^[f]canopy around Him,
Darkness of waters, thick clouds.
¹²From the ^(Y)brightness before Him passed His thick clouds,
Hailstones and ^(Z)coals of fire.
¹³The Lord also ^(AA)thundered in the heavens,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
Hailstones and coals of fire.
¹⁴He ^(AB)sent out His arrows, and scattered them,
And lightning flashes in abundance, and ^[g]routed them.
¹⁵Then the ^(AC)channels of water appeared,
And the foundations of the world were exposed
By Your ^(AD)rebuke, Lord,
At the blast of the ^(AE)breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶He ^(AF)sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of ^(AG)many waters.
¹⁷He ^(AH)saved me from my strong enemy,
And from those who hated me, for they were ^(AI)too mighty for me.
¹⁸They confronted me in ^(AJ)the day of my disaster,
But ^(AK)the Lord was my support.
¹⁹He also brought me out into an ^(AL)open place;
He rescued me, because ^(AM)He delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord has ^(AN)rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the ^(AO)cleanness of my hands He has repaid me.
²¹For I have ^(AP)kept the ways of the Lord,
And have ^(AQ)not acted wickedly against my God.
²²For all ^(AR)His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His ^(AS)statutes from me.
²³I was also ^[h]^(AT)blameless with Him,
And I ^(AU)kept myself from my wrongdoing.
²⁴Therefore the Lord has ^(AV)repaid me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.

²⁵With ^(AW)the faithful You show Yourself faithful;
With the ^[i]blameless ^(AX)You prove Yourself blameless;
²⁶With the pure You show Yourself ^(AY)pure,
And with the crooked ^(AZ)You show Yourself ^[j]astute.
²⁷For You ^(BA)save an afflicted people,
But You humiliate ^(BB)haughty eyes.
²⁸For You ^(BC)light my lamp;
The Lord my God ^(BD)illumines my darkness.
²⁹For by You I can ^(BE)run at a ^[k]troop of warriors;
And by my God I can ^(BF)leap over a wall.

³⁰As for God, His way is ^[l]^(BG)blameless;
The ^(BH)word of the Lord is refined;
He is a ^(BI)shield to all who take refuge in Him.
³¹For ^(BJ)who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a ^(BK)rock, except our God,
³²The God who ^(BL)encircles me with strength,
And ^[m]makes my way ^[n]^(BM)blameless?
³³He ^(BN)makes my feet like deer’s feet,
And ^(BO)sets me up on my high places.
³⁴He ^(BP)trains my hands for battle,
So that my arms can ^(BQ)bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵You have also given me ^(BR)the shield of Your salvation,
And Your ^(BS)right hand upholds me;
And ^(BT)Your ^[o]gentleness makes me great.
³⁶You ^(BU)enlarge my steps under me,
And my ^[p]^(BV)feet have not slipped.

³⁷I ^(BW)pursued my enemies and overtook them,
And I did not turn back ^(BX)until they were consumed.
³⁸I shattered them, so that they were ^(BY)not able to rise;
They fell ^(BZ)under my feet.
³⁹For You have ^(CA)encircled me with strength for battle;
You have forced those who rose up against me ^(CB)to bow down under me.
⁴⁰You have also made my enemies ^(CC)turn their backs to me,
And I ^[q]^(CD)destroyed those who hated me.
⁴¹They cried for help, but there was ^(CE)no one to save,
They cried to the Lord, but ^(CF)He did not answer them.
⁴²Then I beat them fine like the ^(CG)dust before the wind;
I emptied them out like the mud of the streets.

⁴³You have rescued me from the ^(CH)contentions of the people;
You have placed me as ^(CI)head of the nations;
A ^(CJ)people whom I have not known serve me.
⁴⁴As soon as they hear, they obey me;
Foreigners ^(CK)pretend to obey me.
⁴⁵Foreigners ^(CL)lose heart,
And ^(CM)come trembling out of their ^[r]fortresses.

⁴⁶The Lord ^(CN)lives, and blessed be ^(CO)my rock;
And exalted be ^(CP)the God of my salvation,
⁴⁷The God who ^(CQ)executes vengeance for me,
And ^(CR)subdues peoples under me.
⁴⁸He ^(CS)rescues me from my enemies;
You indeed ^(CT)lift me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from a ^(CU)violent man.
⁴⁹Therefore I will ^(CV)give thanks to You among the nations, Lord,
And I will ^(CW)sing praises to Your name.
⁵⁰He gives great ^[s]^(CX)salvation to His king,
And shows faithfulness to ^(CY)His anointed,
To David and ^(CZ)his ^[t]descendants forever.