2 Samuel 22
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 22[a]
Song of Thanksgiving. 1 David sang to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul. 2 He sang:
“The Lord is my rock,
my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge.
3 You are my shield and my saving strength,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior who delivers me from violence.
4 I call upon the Lord
who is worthy of all praise;
then I shall be saved from my enemies.
5 The waves of death encompassed me,
and the destructive torrents assailed me.
6 The bonds of Sheol enmeshed me;
the snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I called out to the Lord;
I called to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
8 “The earth quaked and shook;
the foundations of the heavens trembled,
quaking because of his blazing anger.
9 Smoke rose from his nostrils,
while a devouring fire poured forth from his mouth
that kindled coals into flame.
10 “He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds lay under his feet.
11 He descended on the back of a cherub and flew,
soaring swiftly on the wings of the wind.
12 “He used the darkness as his covering;
dense thunderclouds were his canopy.
13 From the radiance before him
coals were kindled into burning fire.
14 “The Lord thundered from the heavens,
and the Most High caused his voice to resound.
15 He shot his arrows and scattered them;
he hurled forth his lightning bolts and routed them.
16 “Then the depths of the sea were exposed,
and the earth’s foundations ware laid bare.
This occurred at the rebuke of the Lord,
at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 “He reached down from on high and snatched me up;
he drew me out of the watery depths.
18 He delivered me from my mighty enemy,
from my foes who were too powerful for me.
19 “They confronted me in my hour of calamity,
but the Lord came forward to support me.
20 He set me free in a spacious field;
he rescued me because he loves me.
21 “The Lord has rewarded me for my righteousness;
because my hands were pure he has recompensed me.
22 [b]For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not followed the path of wickedness.
23 “His laws are clearly known to me,
and I have not failed to observe his decrees.
24 I was blameless in his sight,
and I kept myself free from sin.
25 Therefore, the Lord has rewarded my righteousness,
the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
to the blameless you show yourself blameless.
27 To the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the perverse you show yourself to be shrewd.
28 Those who are humble you save,
but you ignore those who are haughty.
29 “You, O Lord, are my lamp;
my God will enlighten my darkness.
30 With your help I can storm a rampart;
with my God to aid me I can scale any wall.
31 The way of God is blameless;
the Lord’s promise has proved true.
He is a shield to all
who take refuge in him.
32 “For who is God except the Lord?
Who is a rock aside from our God?
33 The God who girds me with strength
has kept my feet free of obstacles.
34 This God has made my feet swift as a deer’s
and set me securely on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for war
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 “You have given me the shield of salvation;
you stoop down to make me great.
37 You broaden the path for my steps,
and my feet have not slipped.
38 “I pursued my enemies and destroyed them;
I did not turn back until I made an end of them.
39 I crushed them completely and they did not rise;
they fell under my feet.
40 “You girded me with strength for the battle;
you subdued my assailants beneath me.
41 You caused my enemies to retreat before me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
42 “They cried out for help,
but there was no one to save them.
They cried out to the Lord,
but he did not answer them.
43 I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I trampled them down like dust in the streets.
44 “You have delivered me from the strife of my people;
you made me the head of the nations;
a people I did not know became my subjects.
45 Foreigners came forth cringing before me;
as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.
46 Having become disheartened,
they came forth trembling from their strongholds.
47 “The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock.
Exalted be the God of my salvation
48 O God, you granted me vengeance
and subjected entire nations to me.
49 You freed me from my enemies
and exalted me above my adversaries,
delivering me from violent men.
50 “For this I will praise you among the nations, O Lord,
and sing praise to your name.
51 You have given great victories to your king,
and you have shown steadfast love to your anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.”
Footnotes
- 2 Samuel 22:1 This passage and Ps 18 are essentially the same with a few differences. David’s musical talents as composer and harpist are evident in this hymn of thanksgiving.
- 2 Samuel 22:22 This section seems to deny David’s sinfulness, but is more of a tribute to God’s forgiveness and faithfulness (i.e., in God’s eyes, all is forgiven and David is “whiter than snow;” Ps 51:7).
