Bible Strands
2 Samuel 22:46
Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David speaks this song of deliverance to Israel, marking the moment his military victories over surrounding nations are complete.
The words — The Hebrew יִבֹּ֑לוּ (yi.Bo.lu) translates literally as "they wither," describing the physical collapse of foreign forces, while מִ/מִּסְגְּרוֹתָֽ/ם (mi./mis.ge.ro.Ta/m) specifies they retreat "from their strongholds."
The thread — This pattern of enemy collapse appears in Micah 7:17, where nations tremble from their fortifications, and in Isaiah 2:19 and Isaiah 2:21, where people flee to rock crevices to escape the LORD's terror.
Why it lands — The text reports that foreign defenses dissolve under divine action before concluding that human security fails against God's power, requiring the reader to abandon reliance on worldly strength.
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
Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.
Cross-references
- Micah 7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.
- Isaiah 2:19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- Isaiah 2:21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- Isaiah 64:6 Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Amos 9:3 Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
- James 1:11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.