2 Samuel 22:12

He shrouded himself in darkness, ¹  in thick rain clouds. ² 

He made darkness his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky.

"And He made darkness canopies around Him, A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.

He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.

He wrapped himself in a trenchcoat of black rain-cloud darkness.

And he made the dark his tent round him, a mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

He made darkness around him a canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water.

He made darkness canopies around Him, Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

He shrouded himself in darkness, ¹  in thick rain clouds. ² 

¹ tc Heb “he made darkness around him coverings.” The parallel text in Ps 18:11 reads “he made darkness his hiding place around him, his covering.” 2 Sam 22:12 omits “his hiding place” and pluralizes “covering.” Ps 18:11 may include a conflation of synonyms (“his hiding place” and “his covering” ) or 2 Sam 22:12 may be the result of haplography/homoioarcton. Note that three successive words in Ps 18:11 begin with the letter ס (samek): סִתְרוֹ סְבִיבוֹתָיו סֻכָּתוֹ (sitro sÿvyvotav sukkato).

² tc Heb “a sieve of water, clouds of clouds.” The form חַשְׁרַת (khashrat) is a construct of חַשְׁרָה (khashrah, “sieve”), which occurs only here in the OT. A cognate Ugaritic noun means “sieve,” and a related verb חשׁר (“to sift”) is attested in postbiblical Hebrew and Aramaic (see HALOT 363 s.v. *חשׁר). The phrase חַשְׁרַת־מַיִם (khashrat-mayim) means literally “a sieve of water.” It pictures the rain clouds as a sieve through which the rain falls to the ground. (See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry, 146, note 33.)