“The Lord is my high ridge, 9 my stronghold, 10 my deliverer.
22:4 I called 11 to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, 12
and I was delivered from my enemies.
22:15 He shot 13 arrows and scattered them, 14
lightning and routed them. 15
22:42 They cry out, 16 but there is no one to help them; 17
they cry out to the Lord, 18 but he does not answer them.
22:50 So I will give you thanks, O Lord, before the nations! 19
I will sing praises to you. 20
23:2 The Lord’s spirit spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
24:11 When David got up the next morning, the Lord had already spoken 21 to Gad the prophet, David’s seer:
1 tn Heb “from Gibeon until you enter Gezer.”
2 tn Heb “and David was dancing with all his strength before the
3 tc Heb “all the house of Israel.” A few medieval Hebrew
4 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet).
5 tc Several medieval Hebrew
6 tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”
7 tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. It is probably preferable to read with the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate בְּעוֹנִי (bÿ’onyi, “on my affliction”) rather than the Kethib of the MT בָּעַוֹנִי (ba’avoni, “on my wrongdoing”). While this Kethib reading is understandable as an objective genitive (i.e., “the wrong perpetrated upon me”), it does not conform to normal Hebrew idiom for this idea. The Qere of the MT בְּעֵינֵי (bÿ’eni, “on my eyes”), usually taken as synecdoche to mean “my tears,” does not commend itself as a likely meaning. The Hebrew word is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.”
8 tn Heb “and the
9 tn Traditionally “is my rock”; CEV “mighty rock”; TEV “is my protector.” This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
10 tn Traditionally “my fortress”; TEV “my strong fortress”; NCV “my protection.”
sn My stronghold. David often found safety in such strongholds. See 1 Sam 22:4-5; 24:22; 2 Sam 5:9, 17; 23:14.
11 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).
12 tn Heb “worthy of praise, I cried out [to] the
13 tn Heb “sent.”
14 tn The pronominal suffixes on the verbs “scattered” and “routed” (see the next line) refer to David’s enemies. Some argue that the suffixes refer to the arrows, in which case one might translate “shot them far and wide” and “made them move noisily,” respectively. They argue that the enemies have not been mentioned since v. 4 and are not again mentioned until v. 17. However, usage of the verbs פוּץ (puts, “scatter”) and הָמַם (hamam, “rout”) elsewhere in Holy War accounts suggests the suffixes refer to enemies. Enemies are frequently pictured in such texts as scattered and/or routed (see Exod 14:24; 23:27; Num 10:35; Josh 10:10; Judg 4:15; 1 Sam 7:10; 11:11; Ps 68:1).
15 sn Lightning is a common motif in OT theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 77:17-18; 144:6; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 187, 190-92.
16 tc The translation follows one medieval Hebrew
17 tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”
18 tn The words “they cry out” are not in the Hebrew text. This reference to the psalmists’ enemies crying out for help to the
19 sn This probably alludes to the fact that David will praise the
20 tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “
21 tn Heb “and the word of the