Haftarah Torah Portion Haazinu
2 Samuel 22: 1-52

2 Samuel 22 (Haftarah Torah Portion Haazinu)

1 David spoke the words of this song to the Lord after the Lord delivered him from the power of all his enemies and from Saul.

2 He said:
    The Lord is my solid rock, my fortress, my rescuer.
3     My God is my rock—I take refuge in him!—
    he’s my shield and my salvation’s strength,
    my place of safety and my shelter.
    My savior! Save me from violence!
4 Because he is praiseworthy,
    I cried out to the Lord,
    and I was saved from my enemies.
5 Death’s waves were all around me;
    rivers of wickedness terrified me.
6 The cords of the grave surrounded me;
    death’s traps held me tight.
7 In my distress I cried out to the Lord;
    I cried out to my God.
God heard my voice from his temple;
    my cry for help reached his ears.

8 The earth rocked and shook;
    the sky’s foundations trembled
    and reeled because of God’s anger.
9 Smoke went up from God’s nostrils;
    out of his mouth came a devouring fire;
    flaming coals blazed out in front of him!
10 God parted the skies and came down;
    thick darkness was beneath his feet.
11 God mounted the heavenly creatures and flew;
    he was seen on the wind’s wings.
12 God made darkness his covering;
    water gathered in dense clouds!
13 Coals of fire blazed out of the brightness before him.
14 The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the Most High made his voice heard.
15 God shot arrows, scattering the enemy;
    he sent the lightning and whipped them into confusion.
16 The seabeds were exposed;
    the earth’s foundations were laid bare at the Lord’s rebuke,
        at the angry blast of air coming from his nostrils.

17 From on high God reached down and grabbed me;
    he took me out of deep waters.
18 God saved me from my powerful enemy,
    saved me from my foes, who were too much for me.
19 They came at me on the very day of my distress,
    but the Lord was my support.
20 He brought me out to wide-open spaces;
    he pulled me out, because he is pleased with me.
21 The Lord rewarded me for my righteousness;
    he restored me because my hands are clean,
22     because I have kept the Lord’s ways.
    I haven’t acted wickedly against my God.
23 All his rules are right in front of me;
    I haven’t turned away from any of his laws.
24 I have lived with integrity before him;
    I’ve kept myself from wrongdoing.
25 And so the Lord restored me for my righteousness,
    because I am clean in his eyes.

26 You deal faithfully with the faithful;
    you show integrity toward the one who has integrity.
27 You are pure toward the pure,
    but toward the crooked, you are tricky.
28 You are the one who saves people who suffer,
    but your eyes are against the proud.
    You bring them down!
29 You are my lamp, Lord;
    the Lord illumines my darkness.
30 With you I can charge into battle;
    with my God I can leap over a wall.
31 God! His way is perfect;
    the Lord’s word is tried and true.
    He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

32 Now really, who is divine except the Lord?
    And who is a rock except our God?
33 Only God! My mighty fortress,
    who makes my way perfect,
34 who makes my step as sure as the deer’s,
    who lets me stand securely on the heights,
35 who trains my hands for war
    so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
36 You’ve given me the shield of your salvation;
        your help has made me great.
37 You’ve let me walk fast and safe,
    without even twisting an ankle.
38 I chased my enemies and destroyed them!
    I didn’t come home until I finished them off.
39 I ate them up! I struck them down!
    They couldn’t get up;
        they fell under my feet.
40 You equipped me with strength for war;
    you brought my adversaries down underneath me.
41 You made my enemies turn tail from me;
    I destroyed my foes.
42 They looked around, but there was no one to save them.
    They looked to the Lord, but he wouldn’t answer them.
43 I crushed them like dust on the ground;
    I stomped on them, trampled them like mud dumped in the streets.
44 You delivered me from struggles with many people;
    you appointed me the leader of many nations.
    Strangers come to serve me.
45 Foreigners grovel before me;
    after hearing about me, they obey me.
46     Foreigners lose their nerve;
    they come trembling out of their fortresses.

47 The Lord lives! Bless God, my rock!
    Let my God, the rock of my salvation, be lifted high!
48 This is the God who avenges on my behalf,
    who subdues peoples before me,
49     who rescues me from my enemies.
You lifted me high above my adversaries;
    you delivered me from violent people.
50 That’s why I thank you, Lord, in the presence of the nations.
    That’s why I sing praises to your name.
51 You are the one who gives great victories to your king,
    who shows faithful love to your anointed one—
    to David and to his descendants forever.