Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:33 - 22:34

Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation start a new sentence here, although, in the parallel in Psa 18.32, Revised Standard Version takes this verse as an added comment on God, following the rhetorical question of the previous verse.

Revised Standard Version uses the past tense of the verbs in verses 33-34, thereby referring to a specific event in the past (also New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New American Bible). Good News Translation and many other translations use the present tense, indicating habitual action on the part of God. This seems preferable. Interpreters do not agree on how the Hebrew verbs in verses 33-46 should be translated. Revised Standard Version uses the past tense, Good News Translation uses present tense, and Revised English Bible uses both present and future. All of these are possible, but translators should choose one interpretation and be consistent throughout these verses.

On the words This God see verse 31 above.

My strong refuge: compare verses 3 and 31, and see also the similar expression in verse 40. In the Masoretic Text there is no verb before the words my strong refuge; and according to the vowels in the Masoretic Text, my strong refuge is a description of God. However, if the vowels are changed it is possible to read “[God] makes me strong.” This second reading is followed in numerous modern translations such as New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible, and is supported by the Septuagint and a Hebrew manuscript from Qumran. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, claims that the reading of the Septuagint arose under the influence of the parallel passage in Psa 18. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text.

The verbal phrase made my way safe in verse 33b is in Hebrew “he opened up perfectly my way.” Revised Standard Version is based on the parallel text in Psa 18.32. The Syriac and part of the Septuagint tradition, in agreement with Psa 18.32, also say “he made.” In Hebrew the verbs “he gave [or, he made]” and “he opened up [or, let (prisoners) go free]” are similar in spelling. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives an {A} rating to the Masoretic Text. The language is metaphorical and means that God “has set me free on my way.” Some languages may prefer something like “made me free and put me on the road” or “opened the way for me and delivered me [from harm].”

In verse 34 the idea of feet like hinds’ feet (that is, those of a deer) may mean swiftness (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New American Bible, Revised English Bible), “sure-footedness” (see Good News Translation), or agility (Bible en français courant). It is not unreasonable to suppose that it carries all of these ideas at the same time. If these ideas are conveyed by the comparison without making specific the basis of comparison, a more literal rendering will be acceptable. Otherwise it may be necessary to choose one of these characteristics to make the receptor language translation more meaningful.

Where it is possible to maintain the simile, this should be done. However, the translator must make certain that the animal used in the simile is associated with speed and sure-footedness. If no such animal is known for these characteristics, then it will be best to avoid the simile; for example, “he makes my legs able to run fast.”

Secure on the heights can mean victorious in battle. This seems to be the interpretation of Anchor Bible, “made me stand upright.” But most commentators see this expression as continuing the previous idea, meaning to be secure even when on high, dangerous places, or else to be in high places where one is safe from one’s enemies. Where heights are unknown one must use the term for hill and qualify it by “the highest.”

Although nearly all translations say “the heights,” the Masoretic Text appears to say “my heights.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} evaluation to the Masoretic Text and recommends the translation “my heights” (so Bible de Jérusalem, 1998 edition). But such a translation makes little sense. It seems better to follow the explanation found in the footnote of New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, that the ending of this noun is not the first person singular suffix but is rather a poetic spelling of the word “heights.” Since the Hebrew noun translated heights can also refer to the back of a person or animal, Fox translates this part of the verse as “Setting his feet like does, on his back he makes me stand.” That is, David proclaims in metaphorical language that God set his own feet firmly in place like that of a female deer and then made David stand on God’s back, where he would be secure. None of the other translations consulted follow the interpretation found in Fox‘s translation, but it is possible.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:35

Many translators will find, like Good News Translation, that it is not natural to use the words hands and arms to speak of the whole person. The purpose of the instruction must often be expressed as a verb; for example, “He teaches me how to fight” or “He shows me the way to make war.”

A bow of bronze would be very heavy, and only a strong man would be able to use it. But since a bronze bow would be a rather unusual weapon, some commentators think that the language refers rather to a bow that shoots arrows tipped with bronze (see Job 20.24b, where the words may mean either a bronze bow or a bronze arrow). Revised English Bible speaks of a “bronze-tipped bow.” It seems best here to say “a bronze bow” or “a bow made of bronze.” If the bow is known but bronze is not, it may be helpful to translate “so that I can bend a metal bow” or perhaps “… an iron bow.” The intensifying effect may best be expressed as “He trains me to fight; but, more than that, he even enables me to bend a metal bow.” Some common language versions (Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Good News Translation) drop the specific reference to the metal and translate simply “the strongest bow.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:36

The pronouns shift back to the second person singular at this point. See the general comment at the beginning of this chapter.

The shield of thy salvation is a figure of protection and safety in battle. The phrase thy salvation refers to God’s saving David, not to God’s being saved. In languages where the shield is unknown or only partially known through a loan word, it will often be best to transfer to a nonfigurative expression as in Good News Translation. Even if shield is maintained, it will often be misleading to express salvation as a noun, as in Revised Standard Version. A verb phrase may be better; for example, “You give me your shield, which saves me” or, more fully, “You give me your shield, which saves my life.”

The parallel in Psa 18.35 includes the words “thy right hand supported me,” which are not found in this verse. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente includes these words (“with your arm you have sustained me”), apparently assuming that they were original also here in 2 Samuel, but the textual evidence does not support such a translation.

The Revised Standard Version rendering thy help (New Revised Standard Version “your help”) is based on the reading of a Hebrew manuscript from Qumran. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, recommends that the Masoretic Text be followed, “your response [or, subjugation] has made me great.” In other words, the Masoretic Text has a different word in place of help. That word may be understood to mean “response,” which would refer to God’s favorable answer to David’s prayers; thus Bible en français courant “you answer my calls and you make me strong.” New Jerusalem Bible seems to follow this reading, with “you never cease to listen to me.” The other meaning, “subjugation,” may refer to the subjugation of David’s enemies (“your conquest made me great”) or to God’s own self-abasement (“you stoop down to make me great” [Revised English Bible]). Translators are advised to follow the model of Bible en français courant and translate something like “you answered my prayers and made me strong” or “you made me strong by answering when I prayed.” Compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, “Your answer to my prayer makes me strong.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:37

The verb phrase give a wide place for may mean to provide space for military maneuvers, or else to provide freedom so that one will not be captured. Probably the latter is more suitable here. Compare the way in which the related noun “a broad place” is used in verse 20.

If one wishes to follow Good News Translation, “from being captured,” it may be necessary to avoid the passive construction. For example, translators may say “You have not let anyone capture me” or “You have not allowed my enemies to catch me.” On the other hand some translators may wish to keep the parallelism between steps and feet.

The relation between lines a and b is that of consequence, which both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation translate with the conjunction and at the beginning of line b. It is possible to make the consequence even more clear by sacrificing the imagery and saying, for example, “Because you kept me from being captured, I…” or “You have kept my enemies from taking me; therefore, they have never defeated me.” Translators should, however, attempt to keep the images or supply other images.

The word for feet (or, more precisely, “ankles” as in New Jerusalem Bible and Anchor Bible) occurs only here and in Psa 18.36. The idea expressed by my feet did not slip is that David was always able to keep standing and to keep fighting his enemies. In addition to the model provided by Good News Translation, some other possibilities are “I won’t stumble” (Contemporary English Version), “ankles that never weaken” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “unwavering was my stride” (New American Bible).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:38 - 22:39

For verses 38-43 Revised Standard Version uses the past tense of specific events; Good News Translation has the present tense of habitual or continuing actions. The translator must decide which seems better. In line with similar cases, it is recommended that Good News Translation be followed.

The verb pursued is found in 2.19; 17.1; 20.6. The second verb, destroyed, replaces “overtook,” which is found in Psa 18.37. The verb translated destroyed occurs also in 14.11, 16; 21.5; 1 Sam 24.21. Together the two verbs show a progression that should be retained in translation.

They were consumed translates a verb meaning “to cease, to be finished, to be wiped out.” The use of the passive form, as Revised Standard Version has done, may imply that someone else “consumed” them. The Hebrew text says only “to consume them,” with no explicit subject for the infinitive. It seems better to use the active voice, with the writer of the psalm as the subject: “I destroy them” (Good News Translation). The verb is repeated at the beginning of verse 39 in the 2 Samuel version of this psalm, although this is not the case in Psa 18. This second occurrence is in the first person singular in Hebrew, but it is omitted by Good News Translation, perhaps for stylistic reasons. But since the Hebrew repeats this verb, Good News Translation may not be the best model here.

In verse 39 I thrust … through translates a verb meaning to break in pieces (Good News Translation “I strike … down”). New Jerusalem Bible and Revised English Bible translate similarly. Here, of course, it refers to defeat in battle. The English phrase “thrust through” means specifically to drive a sword or a lance through someone’s body, but the Hebrew verb does not have that specific sense.

The verbal expression did not rise is different in form from “were not able to rise” in Psa 18.38. But there seems to be no significant difference in meaning, and the same Hebrew verb is used in both verses.

The phrase they fell under my feet is a picture of destruction and death, not that of the defeated enemy meekly submitting to the victor. In some languages expressions for killing people depend upon the manner of action; for example, intentional or unintentional, by witchcraft, ambush, secretly planned, and the like. In this context David refers to battles with enemy troops, where intentional killing of enemy soldiers is understood. Since the parallelism of verse 39 is one of consequences, the verse may be rendered, for example, “When I beat my enemies down [knock them down], they cannot get up again; so they die at my feet defeated” or “… they are finished.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:40 - 22:41

The expression gird me with strength means to make strong. In languages where strength is more likely to be taken as referring to sexual virility, it will be possible to translate “you make me able to do great things [in battle].”

My assailants is more literally “those who rise up against me.” Some other ways of saying this are “my adversaries” (Anderson) or simply “my enemies” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and others). But in some languages a more literal rendering may be the most natural solution: “those [people] who fight against me” or “the men who attack me.”

The verb translated sink means “to cause to bow down, to bend, in defeat and death.” In some languages it is possible to keep the figure of subjection; for example, “you have put my enemies under my feet” or “you have thrown my enemies behind me.” My assailants is parallel with my enemies in verse 41a, and with those who hated me in verse 41b. These are not three different groups but three ways of talking about the same people. This should be made clear in translation.

In verse 41a the Hebrew is literally “my enemies you gave me [their] back.” This is generally taken to refer to the enemies running away during battle. Compare “My enemies you put to flight before me” (New American Bible) and “made my enemies retreat before me” (New Jerusalem Bible). But the noun may mean “the back of the neck,” and so some take it to be a picture of the victor placing his foot on the neck of his defeated enemy, as in Josh 10.24. Revised English Bible, for example, has “you set my foot on my enemies’ necks,” and Anderson says “You have given me the necks of my enemies.” Translators may follow either interpretation. That in New American Bible is more widely followed than that of Revised English Bible, but if the second half of verse 41 is parallel in meaning to the first part of the verse, then the second interpretation (Revised English Bible) may be preferred.

The verb destroyed at the end of verse 41 is a translation of “to silence,” that is, by killing.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:42 - 22:43

In some languages it will be necessary to repeat “my enemies” as the subject in verse 42 and as the object of “crush” and “trample” in verse 43.

The Masoretic Text has They looked instead of “They cried for help,” which is found at this point in the Psa 18 parallel and in some manuscripts of 2 Samuel. A number of modern versions follow those other manuscripts. These include New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Revised English Bible, and New Century Version. But Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends the reading followed by Revised Standard Version as well as New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and Bible de Jérusalem, giving an {A} evaluation to the Masoretic Text. If translators accept They looked as the text to be translated, many languages will require a clear statement of what David’s enemies looked for. It is quite obvious that they sought some kind of help (aid, relief) or someone to save them. So They looked will have to be rendered something like “They looked for help” or “They looked for someone to save them.”

In line b of verse 42 there is no verb in Hebrew for they cried; the verb in line a carries over into line b. If the first verb is taken as being looked, then it will be appropriate to translate here “they looked to the LORD.” The parallelism of verses 42-43 is that of intensification of images in the second line. Line b of 42 may be heightened by translating “they even looked to the LORD…” or “they went so far as to look to the LORD….”

I beat them fine as the dust of the earth is more literally “I beat them as dust of the earth,” a picture of complete defeat. This is an attempt to express the act of defeating an enemy using the image of reducing something to dust. Many languages will be able to use other specific verbs and retain the simile; for example, “I will stamp on them and grind them like dust blown by the wind.” In some languages the simile may require explanation; for example, “I defeat them and make them as weak as dust blown by the wind” or “… dust that the wind blows away.”

Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew text, I crushed them and stamped them down, which has two verbs, as opposed to the parallel in Psa 18.42b, which has only “I cast them out.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament suggests that the Masoretic Text has combined what were originally two separate renderings, one tradition saying “crushed them” and another saying “stamped them down.” Therefore Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that the text be corrected to read “I crushed them” by omitting the second verb. This correction is found in a number of modern translations (for example, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

The figure of mire of the streets must in some languages be rendered “mud in the footpaths” or “mud where people walk.”

Intensification in line b of verse 43 may be brought out more forcefully by saying, for example, “Not only did I turn them to dust, but I threw them out like mud in the streets and walked on them” or “I smashed them to dust like the wind blows away; more than that, I trampled on them like mud on the path.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 22:44

The verb didst deliver has the same root as the noun “deliverer” discussed in verse 2 above. It involves escaping or being carried away safely.

Strife with the peoples: this phrase in line a may be taken to mean rebellious subjects, that is, a civil uprising among the peoples of other nations whom David ruled. As indicated in the Revised Standard Version note, this follows the ancient Greek version, which has peoples, thus making line a parallel with lines b and c. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, suggests that the reading the peoples is the result of harmonization with the rest of the verse. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament therefore gives a {C} rating to the Masoretic Text and recommends that translators stay with the singular form of the traditional Hebrew text and take it to mean the people of Israel (so, for example, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Stuttgarter Erklärungsbibel, which all say “my people”). The Hebrew text also includes the pronoun “my.” This is the preferred solution of Good News Translation, which reads “my rebellious people.” But this must sometimes be expressed as “my people who refuse to obey me as their ruler” or “my people who say ‘No’ to me as their chief.”

The Masoretic Text says “You kept me as head of the nations.” The Septuagint and the parallel in Psa 18 say “You placed me as head of the nations.” Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating to the Masoretic Text and recommends that it be followed. But despite this recommendation, the grammar here seems to require the verb “to put” and not the verb “to keep.” Numerous translations say “you place” (New Jerusalem Bible), “you made me” (New American Bible), or “you put me” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), and this seems to be the better solution.

Head of the nations refers to ruling over Gentile nations, as the following lines show. The king of Israel ruled over a great empire that included non-Israelite peoples (see the account of David’s conquests in 8.1-14). Nations must often be rendered “tribe” when this is the largest political unit known. Compare 7.23; 8.11; 1 Sam 8.5, 20.

People whom I had not known is another way of referring to foreigners.

The Hebrew verb “to serve” here means “to come under his rule, to become his subjects.” Revised English Bible reads “A people I never knew will be my subjects.” A possible model for this part of the verse is “people I did not know have now become my servants,” as in Contemporary English Version, or “A people I had not known became my slaves” (New American Bible).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .