18:38 I beat them 1 to death; 2
they fall at my feet. 3
18:39 You give me strength 4 for battle;
you make my foes kneel before me. 5
18:40 You make my enemies retreat; 6
I destroy those who hate me. 7
18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; 8
they cry out to the Lord, 9 but he does not answer them.
18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; 10
I beat them underfoot 11 like clay 12 in the streets.
1 tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”
2 tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”
3 sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.
4 tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.
5 tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”
6 tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.
7 sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the
8 tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”
9 tn Heb “to the
10 tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”
11 tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.
12 tn Or “mud.”