2 Samuel 22:8-20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
8 The earth rocked and shook;[a]
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.(A)
11 Mounted on a cherub[b] he flew,
borne along on the wings of the wind.(B)
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.(C)
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.(D)
17 He reached down from on high and seized me,
drew me out of the deep waters.(E)
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.
Footnotes
- 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.
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.