2nd Samuel Chapter 22 verse 5 Holy Bible
For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:
read chapter 22 in ASV
For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear;
read chapter 22 in BBE
For the waves of death encompassed me, Torrents of Belial made me afraid.
read chapter 22 in DARBY
When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
read chapter 22 in KJV
When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly-men made me afraid;
read chapter 22 in WBT
For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:
read chapter 22 in WEB
When the breakers of death compassed me, The streams of the worthless terrify me,
read chapter 22 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 5-7. - "For the breakers of death surrounded me;Torrents of wickedness [Hebrew, 'of Belial'] terrified me;Cords of Sheol surrounded me;Snares of death came suddenly upon me.In my distress I cried unto Jehovah,And to my God I cried.And he heard my voice out of his palace,And my cry was in his ears." Instead of breakers - waves dashing violently on rocks - Psalm 18:4 has "cords of death;" translated "sorrow" in the Authorized Version. But "cords of death" mean the fatal snares of the hunter, and are not in keeping with "torrents of wickedness." "Belial," literally, "worthlessness," is by many supposed, from the context to mean herd "destruction," that is, physical instead of moral wickedness. So in Nahum 1:11 "a counsellor of Belial" means a ruinous, destructive counsellor. Sheol is the world of the departed, and is equivalent to "death." Cried is the same verb twice used. In Psalm 18:6 it is altered, in the former part of the verse unto "I called" - a change probably suggested by the more fastidious taste of a later age. For temple we should translate palace, or heavenly temple. It is not the temple in Jerusalem, which was not yet built, but God's heavenly dwelling, that is meant. Instead of the terse ellipse, "And my cry in his ears," the full but heavy phrase, "My cry before him came into his ears," is substituted in Psalm 18:6.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) The waves of death.--In Psalms 18, "the sorrows of death," in the Authorised Version, but literally, the bands of death. The word is entirely different, and the variation can hardly have been accidental. The form here accords better with the parallelism of the next clause.
