2 Samuel 22:32-51

English Standard Version

³²“For who is God, but the Lord?
    ^(A)And who is a rock, except our God?
³³This God is my ^(B)strong refuge
    and has made my^[a] way blameless.^[b]
³⁴^(C)He made my feet like the feet of a deer
    and set me secure ^(D)on the heights.
³⁵^(E)He trains my hands for war,
    so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁶You have given me the shield of your salvation,
    and your gentleness made me great.
³⁷^(F)You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
    and my feet^[c] did not slip;
³⁸I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,
    and did not turn back until they were consumed.
³⁹I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise;
    they fell ^(G)under my feet.
⁴⁰For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
    you made ^(H)those who rise against me sink under me.
⁴¹You ^(I)made my enemies turn their backs to me,^[d]
    those who hated me, and I destroyed them.
⁴²They looked, but there was none to save;
    they cried to the Lord, but ^(J)he did not answer them.
⁴³I beat them fine ^(K)as the dust of the earth;
    I crushed them and stamped them down ^(L)like the mire of the streets.

⁴⁴“You delivered me from strife with my people;^[e]
    you kept me as the head of ^(M)the nations;
    ^(N)people whom I had not known served me.
⁴⁵Foreigners came cringing to me;
    as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.
⁴⁶Foreigners lost heart
    and came trembling^[f] ^(O)out of their fortresses.

⁴⁷“The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
    and exalted be ^(P)my God, ^(Q)the rock of my salvation,
⁴⁸the God who gave me vengeance
    and ^(R)brought down peoples under me,
⁴⁹who brought me out from my enemies;
    you exalted me above ^(S)those who rose against me;
    you delivered me from ^(T)men of violence.

⁵⁰^(U)“For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
    and sing praises to your name.
⁵¹^(V)Great salvation he brings^[g] to his king,
    and shows steadfast love to ^(W)his anointed,
    to David and his offspring ^(X)forever.”

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Footnotes

2 Samuel 22:33 Or his; also verse 34
2 Samuel 22:33 Compare Psalm 18:32; Hebrew he has blamelessly set my way free, or he has made my way spring up blamelessly
2 Samuel 22:37 Hebrew ankles
2 Samuel 22:41 Or You gave me my enemies' necks
2 Samuel 22:44 Septuagint with the peoples
2 Samuel 22:46 Compare Psalm 18:45; Hebrew equipped themselves
2 Samuel 22:51 Or He is a tower of salvation

2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4

English Standard Version

Paul's Change of Plans

¹²For our boast is this, ^(A)the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity^[a] and ^(B)godly sincerity, ^(C)not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. ¹³For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— ¹⁴just as you did ^(D)partially understand us—that ^(E)on the day of our Lord Jesus ^(F)you will boast of us as ^(G)we will boast of you.

¹⁵Because I was sure of this, ^(H)I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ^(I)a second ^(J)experience of grace. ¹⁶I wanted to visit you ^(K)on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans ^(L)according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸As surely as ^(M)God is faithful, ^(N)our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹For ^(O)the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, ^(P)Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but ^(Q)in him it is always Yes. ²⁰For ^(R)all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our ^(S)Amen to God for his glory. ²¹And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and ^(T)has anointed us, ²²and who has also ^(U)put his seal on us and ^(V)given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.^[b]

²³But ^(W)I call God to witness against me—it was ^(X)to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we ^(Y)lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm ^(Z)in your faith.

2 For I made up my mind ^(AA)not to make another painful visit to you. ²For ^(AB)if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? ³And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, ^(AC)for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. ⁴For ^(AD)I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.