Bible Strands
2 Samuel 22:17
He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses the Lord in a victory song, positioning his personal deliverance immediately after describing God's cosmic rebuke of the sea and before recounting rescue from human foes.
The words — The Hebrew יִשְׁלַח (yishlach) means "he stretches out," while מִמַּיִם רַבִּים (mimmayim rabbim) translates literally as "from many waters."
The thread — The identical phrasing appears in Psalm 18:16, echoes Psalm 144:7, and parallels Isaiah 43:2 where God promises presence through overwhelming waters.
Why it lands — The text states God physically reaches down to pull the speaker from drowning, before asking the reader to acknowledge divine intervention as the sole mechanism for survival against insurmountable threats.
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
He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.
- Psalms 144:7 Reach down from on high; set me free and rescue me from the deep waters, from the grasp of foreigners,
- Psalms 18:16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.
- Psalms 32:6 Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
- Psalms 130:1 A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!
- Psalms 59:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise against me.
- Psalms 93:3 The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves.
- Psalms 124:4 then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,
- Revelation 17:15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
- Exodus 2:10 When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”