Bible Strands
2 Samuel 22:19
They confronted me in my day of calamity, but the LORD was my support.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David speaks these lines as part of a recorded song of deliverance following his military successes and prolonged flight from King Saul. The verse marks the precise moment when hostile forces close in, yet he identifies Yahweh as the stabilizing force.
The words — The Hebrew מִשְׁעָן (mish‘an) literally means “a support” or “a prop,” depicting God as the structural foundation that prevents collapse. The verb יְקַדְּמוּנִי (yəqaddĕmûnî) translates as “they confronted me,” describing enemies actively advancing during a crisis.
The thread — The pattern of rescue after calamity reappears in Psalms 71:20, where God revives the speaker from deep distress. The historical backdrop of evading Saul’s pursuit is recorded in 1 Samuel 19:11 and 1 Samuel 23:26.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that survival in immediate danger depends on external divine intervention rather than human strategy. It demands a plain recognition that crisis is met not by personal evasion but by being held upright by a power outside the self.
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
They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.
Cross-references
- Psalms 71:20 Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes, You will revive me once again. Even from the depths of the earth You will bring me back up.
- 1 Samuel 19:11 Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
- 1 Samuel 23:26 Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.
- Psalms 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- Psalms 118:10 All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- 2 Samuel 15:10 Then Absalom sent spies throughout the tribes of Israel with this message: “When you hear the sound of the horn, you are to say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’”
- Psalms 18:18 They confronted me in my day of calamity, but the LORD was my support.
- Isaiah 26:19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
- Isaiah 50:10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.
- Matthew 27:39 And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads