Discovery BoxPsalms 18:37-43 
Context18:37 I chase my enemies and catch 1 them;
I do not turn back until I wipe them out.
18:38 I beat them 2 to death; 3
they fall at my feet. 4
18:39 You give me strength 5 for battle;
you make my foes kneel before me. 6
18:40 You make my enemies retreat; 7
I destroy those who hate me. 8
18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; 9
they cry out to the Lord, 10 but he does not answer them.
18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; 11
I beat them underfoot 12 like clay 13 in the streets.
18:43 You rescue me from a hostile army; 14
you make me 15 a leader of nations;
people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. 16
1 tn 2 Sam 22:38 reads “destroy.”
2 tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”
3 tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”
4 sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.
5 tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.
6 tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”
sn My foes kneel before me. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 268.
7 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.” Cf. Exod 23:27.
8 sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the
9 tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”
10 tn Heb “to the
sn They cry out. This reference to the psalmist’s enemies crying out for help to the
11 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.”
12 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.
13 tn Or “mud.”
14 tn Heb “from the strivings of a people.” In this context the Hebrew term רִיב (riv, “striving”) probably has a militaristic sense (as in Judg 12:2; Isa 41:11), and עָם (’am, “people”) probably refers more specifically to an army (for other examples, see the verses listed in BDB 766 s.v. I עַם, עָם 2.d). Some understand the phrase as referring to attacks by the psalmist’s own countrymen, the “nation” being Israel. However, foreign enemies appear to be in view; note the reference to “nations” in the following line.
15 tn 2 Sam 22:44 reads, “you keep me.”
16 tn Heb “a people whom I did not know serve me.” In this context “know” (יָדַע, yada’) probably refers to formal recognition by treaty. People who were once not under the psalmist’s authority now willingly submit to his rulership to avoid being conquered militarily (see vv. 44-45). The language may recall the events recorded in 2 Sam 8:9-10 and 10:19.
