Bible Strands
2 Samuel 22:12
He made darkness a canopy around Him, a gathering of water and thick clouds.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David composes this hymn to document God's intervention against his pursuers. The passage functions as a poetic parallel to Psalm 18, describing a divine descent following the cherub flight of the preceding verse.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיֶּשֶׁת (va.yeset) literally means "He made" or "He put," paired with סֻכּוֹת (sukkot), "shelters" or "canopies," to describe how God arranged the surrounding darkness.
The thread — The text states that God clothed Himself in darkness and storm clouds, a motif that runs directly into 2 Samuel 22:10, Psalm 18:11, and Job 36:29.
Why it lands — The passage declares that divine presence is mediated through concealed, violent weather rather than clear visibility. It requires the reader to acknowledge that God's power operates through overwhelming natural phenomena that both reveal and obscure His movement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 22:10 He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.
- Job 36:29 Furthermore, who can understand how the clouds spread out, how the thunder roars from His pavilion?
- Psalms 18:11 He made darkness His hiding place, and storm clouds a canopy around Him.
- Psalms 97:2 Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.
- Psalms 27:5 For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.