18:38 I beat them 1 to death; 2
they fall at my feet. 3
18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; 4
I beat them underfoot 5 like clay 6 in the streets.
1 tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”
2 tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”
3 sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.
4 tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”
5 tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.
6 tn Or “mud.”