2 Samuel 22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 22
Song of Thanksgiving.[a] 1 David proclaimed the words of this song to the Lord when the Lord had rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the grasp of Saul.(A) 2 He said:(B)
O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer,
3 my God, my rock of refuge!
My shield, my saving horn,[b]
my stronghold, my refuge,
my savior, from violence you keep me safe.(C)
4 Praised be the Lord, I exclaim!
I have been delivered from my enemies.
5 The breakers of death surged round about me,
the menacing floods[c] terrified me;
6 The cords of Sheol tightened;
the snares of death lay in wait for me.
7 In my distress I called out: Lord!
I cried out to my God;
From his temple[d] he heard my voice,
my cry reached his ears.
8 The earth rocked and shook;[e]
the foundations of the heavens trembled;
they shook as his wrath flared up.
9 Smoke rose in his nostrils,
a devouring fire from his mouth;
it kindled coals into flame.
10 He parted the heavens and came down,
a dark cloud under his feet.(D)
11 Mounted on a cherub[f] he flew,
borne along on the wings of the wind.(E)
12 He made darkness the cover about him,
a mass of water, heavy thunderheads.
13 From the brightness of his presence
coals were kindled to flame.
14 The Lord thundered from heaven;
the Most High made his voice resound.
15 He let fly arrows and scattered them;
lightning, and dispersed them.(F)
16 Then the bed of the sea appeared;
the world’s foundations lay bare,
At the roar of the Lord,
at the storming breath of his nostrils.(G)
17 He reached down from on high and seized me,
drew me out of the deep waters.(H)
18 He rescued me from my mighty enemy,
from foes too powerful for me.
19 They attacked me on a day of distress,
but the Lord came to my support.
20 He set me free in the open;
he rescued me because he loves me.
21 The Lord acknowledged my righteousness;
rewarded my clean hands.
22 For I kept the ways of the Lord;
I was not disloyal to my God.
23 His laws were all before me,
his decrees I did not cast aside.
24 I was honest toward him;
I was on guard against sin.
25 So the Lord rewarded my righteousness,
the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
26 (I)Toward the faithful you are faithful;[g]
to the honest you are honest;
27 Toward the sincere you are sincere;
but to the perverse you are devious.
28 Humble people you save,
though on the haughty your eyes look down.
29 You are my lamp, O Lord!
My God brightens the darkness about me.
30 With you I can rush an armed band,
with my God to help I can leap a wall.
31 God’s way is unerring;
the Lord’s promise is tried and true;
he is a shield for all who trust in him.(J)
32 Truly, who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is the rock?
33 This God who girded me with might,
kept my way unerring,
34 Who made my feet swift as a deer’s,
set me safe on the heights,(K)
35 Who trained my hands for war,
my arms to bend even a bow of bronze.
36 You have given me your protecting shield,
and your help has made me great.
37 You gave me room to stride;
my feet never stumbled.
38 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till I destroyed them.
39 I struck them down, and they did not rise;
they fell dead at my feet.
40 You girded me with strength for war;
subdued adversaries at my feet.
41 My foes you put to flight before me;
those who hated me I destroyed.
42 They cried for help, but no one saved them,
cried to the Lord but got no answer.
43 I ground them fine as the dust of the earth;
like mud in the streets I trod them down.
44 You rescued me from the strife of my people;
you made me head over nations.
A people I had not known became my slaves;
45 Foreigners cringed before me;
as soon as they heard of me they obeyed.
46 Their courage failed;
they came trembling from their fortresses.
47 The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock!
Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation.
48 O God who granted me vindication,
subdued peoples under me,
49 and helped me escape from my enemies,
Truly you have exalted me above my adversaries,
from the violent you have rescued me.
50 Thus I will proclaim you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.(L)
51 You have given great victories to your king,
and shown kindness to your anointed,
to David and his posterity forever.
Footnotes
- 22:1–51 This psalm of thanksgiving also appears in the Psalter, with a few small variants, as Ps 18. In both places it is attributed to David. Two main sections can be distinguished. In the first part, after an introductory stanza of praise to God (vv. 2–4), the writer describes the peril he was in (vv. 5–7), and then poetically depicts, under the form of a theophany, God’s intervention in his behalf (vv. 8–20), concluding with an acknowledgment of God’s justice (vv. 21–31). In the second part, God is praised for having prepared the psalmist for war (vv. 32–35), given him victory over his enemies (vv. 36–39), whom he put to flight (vv. 40–43), and bestowed on him dominion over many peoples (vv. 44–46). The entire song ends with an expression of grateful praise (vv. 47–51).
- 22:3 My saving horn: my strong savior. The horn, such as that of an enraged bull, was a symbol of strength; cf. Lk 1:69.
- 22:5–6 Breakers…floods: traditional Old Testament imagery for lethal danger, from which the Lord is uniquely able to rescue; cf. Ps 69:2, 15–16; 89:10–11; Jon 2:3–6.
- 22:7 His temple: his heavenly abode.
- 22:8–10 The Lord’s coming is depicted by means of a storm theophany, including earthquake (vv. 8, 16) and thunderstorm (vv. 9–15); cf. Jgs 5:4–5; Ps 29; 97:2–6; Hb 3.
- 22:11 Mounted on a cherub: in the traditional storm theophany, as here, the Lord appears with thunder, lightning, earthquake, rain, darkness, cloud, and wind. Sometimes these are represented as his retinue; sometimes he is said to ride upon the clouds or “the wings of the wind” (Ps 104:3). The parallelism in v. 11 suggests that the winged creatures called cherubim are imagined as bearing the Lord aloft. In the iconography of the ark of the covenant, the Lord was “enthroned upon the cherubim”; cf. Ex 37:7–9; 1 Sm 4:4; 2 Sm 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15; Ps 80:2; 99:1.
- 22:26–27 People are treated by God in the same way they treat him and other people.
Ephesians 5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 5
1 So be imitators of God,[a] as beloved children,(A) 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.(B) 3 Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones,(C) 4 no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.(D) 5 Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.(E)
Duty to Live in the Light. 6 (F)Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.[b] 7 So do not be associated with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,(G) 9 for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.(H) 10 Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.(I) 11 Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them,(J) 12 for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible,(K) 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says:(L)
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”[c]
15 [d]Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise,(M) 16 making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. 18 And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,(N) 19 addressing one another [in] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,(O) 20 giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.(P)
Wives and Husbands. 21 [e]Be subordinate to one another(Q) out of reverence for Christ.[f] 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.(R) 23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body.(S) 24 As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her(T) 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,(U) 27 that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.(V) 28 So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.(W)
31 “For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.”(X)
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.(Y) 33 In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
Footnotes
- 5:1 Imitators of God: in forgiving (Eph 4:32) and in loving (as exhibited in how Christ loved us).
- 5:6 See note on Eph 2:2.
- 5:14 An early Christian hymn, possibly from a baptismal liturgy. For the content compare Eph 2:5–6; 3:9 and Is 60:1.
- 5:15–16, 19–20 The wording is similar to Col 4:5 and Eph 3:16–17.
- 5:21–6:9 Cf. notes on Col 3:18–4:1 and 1 Pt 2:18–3:7 for a similar listing of household duties where the inferior is admonished first (wives, Eph 5:22; children, Eph 6:1; slaves, Eph 6:5), then the superior (husbands, Eph 5:25; fathers, Eph 6:4; masters, Eph 6:9). Paul varies this pattern by an emphasis on mutuality (see Eph 5:20); use of Old Testament material about father and mother in Eph 6:2; the judgment to come for slave-owners (you have a Master in heaven, Eph 6:9); and above all the initial principle of subordination to one another under Christ, thus effectively undermining exclusive claims to domination by one party. Into the section on wives and husbands an elaborate teaching on Christ and the church has been woven (Eph 5:22–33).
- 5:21–33 The apostle exhorts married Christians to a strong mutual love. Holding with Gn 2:24 that marriage is a divine institution (Eph 5:31), Paul sees Christian marriage as taking on a new meaning symbolic of the intimate relationship of love between Christ and the church. The wife should serve her husband in the same spirit as that of the church’s service to Christ (Eph 5:22, 24), and the husband should care for his wife with the devotion of Christ to the church (Eph 5:25–30). Paul gives to the Genesis passage its highest meaning in the light of the union of Christ and the church, of which Christlike loyalty and devotion in Christian marriage are a clear reflection (Eph 5:31–33).
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.