2 Samuel 10:15

10:15 When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they consolidated their forces. ¹ 

2 Samuel 22:5

22:5 The waves of death engulfed me;

the currents ²  of chaos ³  overwhelmed me. ⁴ 

2 Samuel 22:18

22:18 He rescued me from my strong enemy, ⁵ 

from those who hate me,

for they were too strong for me.

2 Samuel 22:20

22:20 He brought me out into a wide open place;

he delivered me because he was pleased with me. ⁶ 

2 Samuel 22:22-23

22:22 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; ⁷ 

I have not rebelled against my God. ⁸ 

22:23 For I am aware of all his regulations, ⁹ 

and I do not reject his rules. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 22:29-30

22:29 Indeed, ¹¹  you are my lamp, ¹²  Lord.

The Lord illumines ¹³  the darkness around me. ¹⁴ 

22:30 Indeed, ¹⁵ with your help ¹⁶  I can charge ¹⁷  against an army; ¹⁸ 

by my God’s power ¹⁹  I can jump over a wall. ²⁰ 

2 Samuel 23:6

23:6 But evil people are like thorns –

all of them are tossed away,

for they cannot be held in the hand.

[10:15]  ¹ tn Heb “were gathered together.”

[22:5]  ² tn The noun נַחַל (nakhal) usually refers to a river or stream, but in this context the plural form likely refers to the currents of the sea (see vv. 15-16).

[22:5]  ³ tn The noun בְלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) is used here as an epithet for death. Elsewhere it is a common noun meaning “wickedness, uselessness” (see HALOT 133-34 s.v. בְּלִיַּעַל). It is often associated with rebellion against authority and other crimes that result in societal disorder and anarchy. The phrase “man/son of wickedness” refers to one who opposes God and the order he has established. The term becomes an appropriate title for death, which, through human forces, launches an attack against God’s chosen servant.

[22:5]  ⁴ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. (Note the perfect verbal form in the parallel/preceding line.) The verb בָּעַת (ba’at) sometimes by metonymy carries the nuance “frighten,” but the parallelism (note “engulfed” in the preceding line) favors the meaning “overwhelm” here.

[22:18]  ³ tn The singular refers either to personified death or collectively to the psalmist’s enemies. The following line, which refers to “those [plural] who hate me,” favors the latter.

[22:20]  ⁴ tn Or “delighted in me” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[22:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the Lord.” The phrase “ways of the Lord” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord (see HALOT 232 s.v. דֶרֶךְ). In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

[22:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical, the idea being, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”

[22:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “for all his regulations are before me.” The term מִשְׁפָּטָו (mishpatav, “his regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.

[22:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” Ps 18:22 reads, “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; David here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).

[22:29]  ⁷ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:29]  ⁸ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss, some LXX mss, and the Syriac Peshitta support reading תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you cause to shine”) before the words “my lamp.” See Ps 18:28. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

[22:29]  ⁹ tc The Lucianic Greek recension and Vulgate understand this verb to be second person rather than third person as in the MT. But this is probably the result of reading the preceding word “Lord” as a vocative under the influence of the vocative in the first part of the verse.

[22:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[22:30]  ⁸ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[22:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “by you.”

[22:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 30 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [literally, “cause to run”] an army.”

[22:30]  ¹¹ tn More specifically, the noun refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops (see HALOT 177 s.v. II גְדוּד). The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.

[22:30]  ¹² tn Heb “by my God.”

[22:30]  ¹³ tn David uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.