David’s song of praise
22
📚And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hands of all his enemies and out of the hands of Saul,2 📚And he said,
“The LORD is my rock,
and my fortress,
and my deliverer,
3 📚My God, my rock.
In him I will trust.
He is my shield,
and the horn of my salvation,
my high tower,
and my refuge, my saviour.
You save me from violence.
4 📚I will call on the LORD,
who is worthy to be praised,
and I will be saved from
my enemies.
5 📚“When the waves of death
came around me,
the floods of ungodly men
made me afraid.
6 📚The sorrows of hell 📖 came
all around me;
the snares of death were before me.
7 📚In my distress I called
to the LORD,
and cried out to my God;
and he heard my voice from
his temple,
and my cry came
into his ears.
8 📚“Then the earth shook and trembled;
the foundations of heaven
moved and shook,
because he was angry.
9 📚There went up a smoke
out of his nostrils,
and devouring fire out
of his mouth.
Coals were kindled by it.
10 📚And he bowed the heavens
and came down,
and darkness was under
his feet.
11 📚And he rode on a cherub and flew,
and he was seen on the wings
of the wind.
12 📚And he made darkness canopies
around him, dark waters,
and thick clouds
of the skies.
13 📚Through the brightness
before him coals
of fire were kindled.
14 📚The LORD thundered
from heaven,
and the Most High uttered
his voice.
15 📚And he sent out arrows,
and scattered them;
lightning, and routed them.
16 📚And the channels of the sea
appeared,
the foundations of the earth
were uncovered,
at the rebuke of the LORD,
at the blast of the breath
of his nostrils.
17 📚“He sent from above;
he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
18 📚He delivered me from
my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me,
for they were too strong for me.
19 📚They confronted me
in the day of my calamity,
but the LORD was my support.
20 📚And he brought me out
into a spacious place.
He delivered me because
he delighted in me.
21 📚“The LORD has rewarded me
in accordance with
my righteousness;
in accordance with the cleanness
of my hands he has repaid me.
22 📚For I have kept the ways
of the LORD,
and have not wickedly departed
from my God.
23 📚For all his judgments were
before me;
and as for his statutes,
I did not depart from them.
24 📚And I was blameless
before him,
and have kept myself from my iniquity.
25 📚Therefore the LORD has repaid me
in accordance with my righteousness,
in accordance with my cleanness
in his eyes.
26 📚“With the merciful you show
yourself merciful,
and with the blameless man
you show yourself to be blameless.
27 📚With the pure you show
yourself pure,
and with the twisters 📖 you show yourself
able to twist.
28 📚“And you will save the afflicted people;
but your eyes are on the haughty,
whom you will bring down.
29 📚For you are my lamp,
O LORD, and the LORD will light up
my darkness.
30 📚For by you I have run
through a troop.
By my God I have leaped
over a wall.
31 📚“As for God,
his way is perfect.
The word of the LORD is tested.
He is a shield to all those
who trust in him.
32 📚For who is God,
except the LORD?
And who is a rock,
except our God?
33 📚“God is my strength and power,
and he makes my way perfect.
34 📚He makes my feet like
the feet of a deer,
and sets me on my high places.
35 📚He teaches my hands to war,
so that a bow of bronze is broken
by my arms.
36 📚You have also given me
the shield of your salvation;
and your gentleness has
made me great.
37 📚You have enlarged the place of
my steps under me;
and my feet did not slip.
38 📚“I pursued my enemies,
and destroyed them,
and did not turn back until
I had made an end of them.
39 📚And I made an end of them,
and crushed them,
so that they could not rise;
yes, they fell under my feet.
40 📚For you have clothed me
with strength for battle.
You have subdued under me
those who rose up against me.
41 📚You have also given me
the necks of my enemies,
so that I could destroy those
who hate me.
42 📚They looked, but there was
no one to save;
even to the LORD,
but he did not answer them.
43 📚Then I beat them as small as
the dust of the earth.
I stamped them like the mire
of the street,
and scattered them around.
44 📚“You have also delivered me
from the strivings of my people.
You have kept me as head
of the nations.
A people that I did not know
serve me.
45 📚Foreigners submit themselves
to me.
As soon as they hear, they become
obedient to me.
46 📚Foreigners lose heart and
are afraid from their strongholds.
47 📚“The LORD lives; and blessed be
my rock,
and exalted be the God of the rock
of my salvation.
48 📚It is God who avenges me
and who brings down the people
under me,
49 📚And who brings me out
from my enemies.
And you have lifted me up on high
above those who rose up against me.
You have delivered me from
the violent man.
50 📚Therefore I will give thanks
to you,
O LORD, among the nations,
and I will sing praises to your name.
51 📚He is the tower of salvation
for his king,
and shows mercy to his anointed,
to David and to his seed forever”.
22:2-51 Apart from a few slight changes this song is the same as Ps 18:2-50. See notes there. It was written just after the victories recorded in 2 Sam 8:1-14, before David’s sin with Bathsheba. Chapters 21-23 of this book (for the most part) refer to events before those recorded in chapter 20.⚜