2 Samuel 22

¹And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song, on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

²And he said: the LORD is my rock and my stronghold and my deliverer.

³My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; from violence you save me.

⁴Worthy of praise, I call to the LORD, and from my enemies I am saved.

⁵for the breakers of death surrounded me, the torrents of destruction terrified me.

⁶The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.

⁷In my distress I called to the LORD, and to my God I called; he heard from his temple my voice, and my cry for help was in his ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and heaved; the foundations of the heavens trembled and shook, for he was incensed.

⁹Smoke went up from his nostrils, and fire from his mouth devoured; coals blazed from him.

¹⁰He bent the heavens and came down, thick darkness under his feet.

¹¹He rode upon a cherub and flew; and he appeared upon the wings of the wind.

¹²He set darkness around him as coverings, a sieve of water, thick clouds of the skies.

¹³From the brightness before him blazed coals of fire.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High gave forth his voice.

¹⁵He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning, and he routed them.

¹⁶And the channels of the sea were revealed; the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

¹⁷He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out from mighty waters.

¹⁸He rescued me from my enemy who was strong, from those who hated me, for they were stronger than I.

¹⁹They confronted me on the day of my calamity, but the LORD became my support.

²⁰He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, for he delights in me.

²¹The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands he repaid me.

²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and I have not acted wickedly against my God.

²³For all his ordinances are before me, and from his statutes I do not turn aside.

²⁴And I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁵So the Lord repaid me according to my righteousness, according to my purity before his eyes.

²⁶With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless hero you show yourself blameless.

²⁷With the pure you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

²⁸The afflicted people you save, but your eyes are upon the proud -- you bring them low.

²⁹For you are my lamp, O LORD; and the LORD illumines my darkness.

³⁰Indeed, by you I can charge a raiding party; by my God I can leap over a wall.

³¹As for God, his way is blameless; the word of the Lord is refined; he is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

³²For who is God, besides the LORD? And who is a rock, besides our God?

³³The God is my stronghold of strength, and he sets the blameless way free.

³⁴He makes my feet like those of a deer, and he makes me stand on my heights.

³⁵teaching my hands for war, so that a bow of bronze is bent by my arms.

³⁶You give me the shield of your salvation, and your answer makes me great.

³⁷You widened my steps beneath me, and my ankles did not slip.

³⁸I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and I did not turn back until I had finished them off.

³⁹And I devoured them and crushed them, so that they could not rise; they fell under my feet.

⁴⁰You girded me with strength for battle; you make those who rise against me bow down under me.

⁴¹You gave me the neck of my enemies; those who hate me -- I destroyed them.

⁴²They looked about, but there was no one to save; to the LORD, but he did not answer them.

⁴³And I ground them fine as the dust of the earth; as the mire of the streets I crushed them and trampled them.

⁴⁴You delivered me from the strivings of my people; you kept me as head of nations. A people I did not know serve me.

⁴⁵Sons of a foreign land come cringing to me; at the hearing of an ear they submit to me.

⁴⁶Foreigners wither away and come trembling out of their strongholds.

⁴⁷The LORD lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.

⁴⁸God is the one who grants me vengeance and brings down peoples beneath me.

⁴⁹The one who brings me out from my enemies -- from those who rise against me you lift me up; from the man of violence you rescue me.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give you thanks, O LORD, among the nations, and I will sing praises to your name.

⁵¹He magnifies the salvations of his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and to his offspring forever.