2 Samuel 22:4

22:4 I called ¹  to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, ² 

and I was delivered from my enemies.

2 Samuel 22:41

22:41 You make my enemies retreat; ³ 

I destroy those who hate me.

2 Samuel 22:18

22:18 He rescued me from my strong enemy, ⁴ 

from those who hate me,

for they were too strong for me.

2 Samuel 22:38

22:38 I chase my enemies and destroy them;

I do not turn back until I wipe them out.

2 Samuel 22:49

22:49 He delivers me from my enemies; ⁵ 

you snatch me away ⁶  from those who attack me; ⁷ 

you rescue me from violent men.

2 Samuel 7:1

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7:1 The king settled into his palace, ⁸  for the Lord gave him relief ⁹  from all his enemies on all sides. ¹⁰ 

2 Samuel 7:9

7:9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated ¹¹  all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. ¹² 

2 Samuel 12:14

12:14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt ¹³  in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

2 Samuel 18:19

David Learns of Absalom’s Death

18:19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run and give the king the good news that the Lord has vindicated him before his enemies.” ¹⁴ 

2 Samuel 22:1

David Sings to the Lord

22:1 ¹⁵ David sang ¹⁶  to the Lord the words of this song when ¹⁷  the Lord rescued him from the power ¹⁸  of all his enemies, including Saul. ¹⁹ 

2 Samuel 3:18

3:18 Act now! For the Lord has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save ²⁰  my people Israel from ²¹  the Philistines and from all their enemies.’”

2 Samuel 5:20

5:20 So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. ²² 

2 Samuel 7:11

7:11 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief ²³  from all your enemies. The Lord declares ²⁴  to you that he himself ²⁵  will build a dynastic house ²⁶  for you.

2 Samuel 18:32

18:32 The king asked the Cushite, “How is the young man Absalom?” The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who have plotted against you ²⁷  be like that young man!”

2 Samuel 19:9

19:9 All the people throughout all the tribes of Israel were arguing among themselves saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies. He rescued us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled from the land because of Absalom.

2 Samuel 4:8

4:8 They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron, saying to the king, “Look! The head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life! The Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king this day against ²⁸  Saul and his descendants!”

[22:4]  ¹ tn In this song of thanksgiving, where David recalls how the Lord delivered him, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense (cf. CEV “I prayed”), not an imperfect (as in many English versions).

[22:4]  ² tn Heb “worthy of praise, I cried out [to] the Lord.” Some take מְהֻלָּל (mÿhullal, “worthy of praise”) with what precedes and translate, “the praiseworthy one,” or “praiseworthy.” However, the various epithets in vv. 1-2 have the first person pronominal suffix, unlike מְהֻלָּל. If one follows the traditional verse division and takes מְהֻלָּל with what follows, it is best understood as substantival and as appositional to יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “Yahweh”), resulting in “[to the] praiseworthy one I cried out, [to the] Lord.”

[22:41]  ³ 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.” See Exod 23:27 and HALOT 888 s.v. II ערף.

[22:18]  ⁵ 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.

[22:49]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [the one who] brings me out from my enemies.”

[22:49]  ⁸ tn Heb “you lift me up.” In light of the preceding and following references to deliverance, the verb רוּם (rum) probably here refers to being rescued from danger (see Ps 9:13). However, it could mean “exalt; elevate” here, indicating that the Lord has given him victory over his enemies and forced them to acknowledge the psalmist’s superiority.

[22:49]  ⁹ tn Heb “from those who rise against me.”

[7:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).

[7:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “rest.”

[7:1]  ¹¹ tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.

[7:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[7:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”

[12:14]  ¹³ tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the Lord to treat the Lord with such contempt.” This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this ancient tradition, the scribes changed the text in order to soften somewhat the negative light in which David was presented. If that is the case, the MT reflects the altered text. The present translation departs from the MT here. Elsewhere the Piel stem of this verb means “treat with contempt,” but never “cause someone to treat with contempt.”

[18:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “that the Lord has vindicated him from the hand of his enemies.”

[22:1]  ¹⁷ sn In this long song of thanks, David affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. His experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the song appears in Ps 18.

[22:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “spoke.”

[22:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”

[22:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[22:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from the hand of.”

[5:20]  ²¹ tn The name means “Lord of the outbursts.”

[7:11]  ²³ tn Or “rest.”

[7:11]  ²⁴ tn In the Hebrew text the verb is apparently perfect with vav consecutive, which would normally suggest a future sense (“he will declare”; so the LXX, ἀπαγγελεῖ [apangelei]). But the context seems instead to call for a present or past nuance (“he declares” or “he has declared”). The synoptic passage in 1 Chr 17:10 has וָאַגִּד (va’aggid, “and I declared”). The construction used in 2 Sam 7:11 highlights this important statement.

[7:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.”

[7:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “house,” but used here in a metaphorical sense, referring to a royal dynasty. Here the Lord’s use of the word plays off the literal sense that David had in mind as he contemplated building a temple for the Lord. To reflect this in the English translation the adjective “dynastic” has been supplied.

[18:32]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and all those rising against you for evil.”

[4:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from.”