Bible Strands
2 Samuel 22:5
For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David speaks these lines as part of a song recounting his deliverance from enemies and life-threatening distress. He addresses the LORD directly, marking the moment just before he calls for salvation.
The words — The Hebrew mishberei-mavet ("breakers of death") and nachalei beliyaa ("torrents of worthlessness") name the forces closing in on the speaker. The text states these terms to describe the immediate, overwhelming pressure before any intervention occurs.
The thread — The identical phrasing appears in Psalms 18:4, while Jonah 2:3 and Psalms 69:14 employ adjacent nautical and flood imagery to describe being cast into deep waters or mire. These passages share a structural pattern of stating the peril before recording the rescue.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge the precise nature and severity of the threat before accepting the claim of deliverance. It asks for a clear assessment of the danger that makes the subsequent rescue necessary.
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
When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;
Cross-references
- Jonah 2:3 For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.
- Psalms 69:14 Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- Psalms 18:4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
- Psalms 93:3 The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves.
- Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises. For He will come like a raging flood, driven by the breath of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 46:7 Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters churn?
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3 While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- Revelation 12:15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away in the torrent.
- Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- 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.