2 Samuel 22:10

22:10 He made the sky sink ¹  as he descended;

a thick cloud was under his feet.

2 Samuel 22:37

22:37 You widen my path; ² 

my feet ³  do not slip.

2 Samuel 22:40

22:40 You give me strength for battle; ⁴ 

you make my foes kneel before me. ⁵ 

[22:10]  ¹ tn The verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “[to cause to] bend; [to cause to] bow down” (see HALOT 693 s.v. נָטָה). For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “He bowed the heavens”; NAB “He inclined the heavens”). Here the Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to bend or sink down as he descends in the storm.

[22:37]  ² tn Heb “step.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives him the capacity to run quickly.

[22:37]  ³ tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”

[22:40]  ³ tn Heb “you clothed me with strength for battle.”

[22:40]  ⁴ tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”