2 Samuel 22

Complete Jewish Bible

“Adonai is my Rock, my fortress and deliverer,
³ the God who is my Rock, in whom I find shelter,
my shield, the power that saves me,
my stronghold and my refuge.
My savior, you have saved me from violence.
⁴ I call on Adonai, who is worthy of praise;
and I am saved from my enemies.

⁵ “For death’s breakers were closing over me,
the floods of B’liya‘al terrified me,
⁶ the ropes of Sh’ol were wrapped around me,
the snares of death lay there before me.
⁷ In my distress I called to Adonai;
yes, I called to my God.
Out of his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry entered his ears.

⁸ “Then the earth quaked and shook,
the foundations of heaven trembled.
They were shaken because he was angry.
⁹ Smoke arose in his nostrils;
and from his mouth, devouring fire,
with coals blazing from it.
¹⁰ He lowered heaven and came down
with thick darkness under his feet.
¹¹ He rode on a keruv and flew,
he was seen on the wings of the wind.
¹² He made darkness his canopy around him,
thick clouds in the skies dense with water.
¹³ From the brightness before him,
fiery coals flamed out.

¹⁴ “Adonai thundered from heaven,
Ha‘Elyon sounded his voice.
¹⁵ He sent out arrows and scattered them;
with lightning he routed them.
¹⁶ The channels of the sea appeared,
the foundations of the world were exposed
at Adonai’s rebuke,
at the blast of breath from his nostrils.

¹⁷ “He sent from on high, he took me
and pulled me out of deep water;
¹⁸ he rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from those who hated me, for they were stronger than I.
¹⁹ They came against me on my day of calamity,
but Adonai was my support.

²⁰ “He brought me out to an open place;
he rescued me, because he took pleasure in me.
²¹ Adonai rewarded me for my uprightness,
he repaid me because my hands were clean.

²² “For I have kept the ways of Adonai,
I have not done evil by leaving my God;
²³ for all his rulings were before me,
I did not depart from his regulations.
²⁴ I was pure-hearted toward him
and kept myself from my sin.

²⁵ “Hence Adonai repaid me for my uprightness,
according to my purity in his view.
²⁶ With the merciful, you are merciful;
with the champion of purity, you are pure;
²⁷ with the honest, you are honest;
but with the crooked you are cunning.
²⁸ People afflicted, you save;
but when your eyes are on the haughty, you humble them.

²⁹ “For you, Adonai, are my lamp;
Adonai lights up my darkness.
³⁰ With you I can run through a whole troop of men,
with my God I can leap a wall.

³¹ “As for God, his way is perfect,
the word of Adonai has been tested by fire;
he shields all who take refuge in him.
³² For who is God but Adonai,
and who is a Rock but our God?

³³ “God is my strength and protection;
he makes my way go straight.
³⁴ He makes me swift and sure-footed as a deer
and enables me to stand on my high places.
³⁵ He trains my hands for war
until my arms can bend a bow of bronze;
³⁶ You give me your shield, which is salvation;
your answers make me great.
³⁷ You lengthen the steps I can take,
yet my ankles do not turn.

³⁸ “I pursued my enemies and wiped them out,
without turning back until they were destroyed.
³⁹ I destroyed them, crushed them; they can’t get up;
they have fallen under my feet.

⁴⁰ “For you braced me with strength for the battle
and bent down my adversaries beneath me.
⁴¹ You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
so that I could destroy those who hate me.

⁴² “They looked, but there was no one to help,
even to Adonai, but he didn’t answer.
⁴³ I pulverized them like dust on the ground,
pounded and stamped on them like mud in the streets.

⁴⁴ “You also freed me from the quarrels of my people.
You kept me to be the head of the nations;
a people I did not know now serve me.
⁴⁵ Foreigners come cringing to me;
the moment they hear of me, they obey me.
⁴⁶ Foreigners lose heart as they stagger from their fortresses.

⁴⁷ “Adonai is alive! Blessed is my Rock!
Exalted be God, the Rock of my salvation,
⁴⁸ the God who gives me vengeance
and makes peoples submit to me.
⁴⁹ He brings me out from my enemies.
You raise me over those who rebel against me,
you rescue me from violent men.

⁵⁰ “So I give thanks to you, Adonai, among the nations;
I sing praises to your name.
⁵¹ He is a tower of salvation for his king;
he displays grace to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.”