He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
Parallel Translations
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He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
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And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
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And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 22:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 104:3 He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.
- Psalms 18:10 He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.
- Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
- Exodus 25:19 Make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim on its two ends of one piece with the mercy seat.
- 1 Samuel 4:4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
- Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary.
- Psalms 80:1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Psalms 99:1 Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
- Psalms 139:9 If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
- Ezekiel 9:3 The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.
- Ezekiel 10:2-14 He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, “Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” He went in as I watched. Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. Yahweh’s glory mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory. The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. The cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. The form of a man’s hand appeared here in the cherubim under their wings. I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it. They didn’t turn as they went. Their whole body, including their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had. As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, “the whirling wheels”. Every one them had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was the face of a lion. The fourth was the face of an eagle.
- Hebrews 1:14 Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain To fly in a moment through the world.
To fly in a moment through the world.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain They prevented me in the day of my calamity:…
They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay. See Gill on Psa 18:18.
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2 Samuel 22:20
sa2 22:20
sa2 22:20
sa2 22:20He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me,
because he delighted in me. See Gill on Psa 18:19.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. He rode upon a cherub, and did…
Verse 11. He rode upon a cherub, and did fly - he was seen upon the things of the wind.] In the original of this sublime passage, sense and sound are astonishingly well connected. I shall insert the Hebrew, represent it in English letters for the sake of the unlearned reader, and have only to observe, he must read from the right to the left.
רוח כנפי על וירא ויעף כרוב על וירכב
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ruach canphey al vaiyera :vaiyaoph kerub al vayirkab
wind the of wings the upon seen was he and :fly did and cherub a upon rode he
The clap of the wing, the agitation and rush through the air are expressed here in a very extraordinary manner.
Other beauties of this kind will be noted in the exposition of the Psalm alluded to above.
I now subjoin Dr. Kennicott's remarks on this chapter: -
"The very sublime poetry contained in this chapter is universally admired, and yet it cannot be perfectly understood, till it is known WHO is the speaker, who the person thus triumphant over mighty enemies, whose sufferings occasioned such a dreadful convulsion of nature, and, who, upon his deliverance, inflicted such vengeance on his own people, and also became thus a king over the heathen. Should we be told that this person was David, it will be very difficult to show how this description can possibly agree with that character: but if it did in fact agree, yet would it contradict St. Paul, who quotes part of it as predicting the conversion of the Gentiles under Christ the Messiah. Ro 15:9; Heb 2:13; and see Peirce's Commentary, p. 50. Now if the person represented as speaking through this Divine ode be David only, the Messiah is excluded. In consequence of the difficulties resulting from each of these suppositions, the general idea has been that it relates both to David and to the Messiah as a prophecy of a double sense; first, as spoken by David of himself, and yet to be understood in a secondary sense, of the Messiah. But it must be remarked here, that if spoken only of David, it is not a prediction of any thing future, but a thanksgiving for favours past, and therefore is no prophecy at all. And farther, it could not be a prophecy descriptive of David unless the particulars agreed to David, which they evidently do not. If then David be here necessarily excluded from the single sense, he must be excluded also from the double sense, because nothing can be intended by any sacred writer, to relate to two persons, unless it be TRUE of both; but it not being the case here as to David, we must conclude that this song relates only to the Messiah; and on this subject an excellent Dissertation, by the late Mr. Peirce, is subjoined to his comment on the Epistle to the Hebrews. It may be necessary to add here two remarks: the twenty-fourth verse now ends with, I have kept myself from mine iniquity, which words, it is objected, are not proper, if applied to the Messiah. But this difficulty is removed, in part, by the context, which represents the speaker as perfectly innocent and righteous; and this exactly agrees with the proof arising from the Syriac and Arabic versions, and also the Chaldee paraphrase, that this word was anciently מעונים ab iniquitatibus; consequently, this is one of the many instances where the ם final mem is improperly omitted by the Jewish transcribers. See my General Dissertation, p. 12. Lastly, the difficulty arising from the title, which ascribes the Psalm to David, and which seems to make him the speaker in it, may be removed, either by supposing that the title here, like those now prefixed to several Psalms, is of no sufficient authority; or rather, by considering this title as only meant to describe the time when David composed this prophetic hymn, that when delivered from all his other enemies as well as from the hand of Saul, he then consecrated his leisure by composing this sublime prophecy concerning MESSIAH, his son, whom he represents here as speaking, (just as in Psa. 22, 40, and other places,) and as describing,
1. His triumph over death and hell;
2. The manifestations of Omnipotence in his favour, earth and heaven, trembling at God's awful presence;
3. The speaker's innocence thus divinely attested;
4. The vengeance he was to take on his own people the Jews, in the destruction of Jerusalem; and,
5. The adoption of the heathen, over whom he was to be the head and ruler.
"Another instance of a title denoting only the time of a prophecy, occurs in the very next chapter; where a prophecy concerning the Messiah is entitled, The LAST words of David; i.e., a hymn which he composed a little before his death, after all his other prophecies. And perhaps this ode in 2 Sam. 22, which immediately precedes that in 2 Sam. 23, was composed but a little while before; namely, when all his wars were over. Let it be added, that Josephus, immediately before he speaks of David's mighty men, which follow in this same chapter of Samuel, considers the two hymns in 2 Sam. 22 and 23, as both written after his wars were over - Jam Davides, bellis et periculis perfunctus, pacemque deinceps profundam agitans, odas in Deum hymnosque composuit. Tom. i., page 401."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Upon. Cardell (Menochius) would translate the Hebrew, "as in…
Upon. Cardell (Menochius) would translate the Hebrew, "as in contest."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Rides upon a cherub — Jehovah communed with…
11. Rides upon a cherub — Jehovah communed with Moses from between the two cherubim that spread their wings over the mercy-seat.
Exo_25:22. So here he is represented as moving forth upborne on a cherub’s wing. Compare Ezekiel’s vision, where the outspread wings of the cherubim support the firmament on which rests the throne of the Divine Glory. Eze_1:23; Eze_1:26.
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Wings of the wind — An allusion to some sweeping tempest, an element often used as the Lord’s minister of judgment. Comp. Jdg_5:4, note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. he rode upon a cherub] As the Shechinah,…
11. he rode upon a cherub] As the Shechinah, or mystic Presence of God in the cloud of glory, rested over the Cherubim which were upon the “Mercy-seat” or covering of the Ark (ch. 2Sa_6:2), so in this Theophany God is represented “riding upon a Cherub,” as the living throne on which He traverses space.
The Cherubim appear in Scripture (a) as the guardians of Paradise (Gen_3:24): (b) as sculptured or wrought figures in the Tabernacle and Temple (Exo_25:17-20; Exo_26:1, &c.): (c) in prophetic visions as the attendants of God (Eze_10:1 ff; cp. Ezekiel 1; Isaiah 6; Revelation 4). The Cherubim of the Tabernacle and Temple seem to have been winged human figures, representing the angelic attendants who minister in God’s Presence: those of Ezekiel’s vision appear as composite figures (Eze_10:20-21), symbolical perhaps of all the powers of nature, which wait upon God and fulfil His Will.
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was seen] The true reading is that preserved in Psa_18:10, did fly, a peculiar word used of the swooping of an eagle (Deu_28:49; Jer_48:40; Jer_49:22). The consonants of the two words are so nearly alike (וידא–וירא), that the rarer word would be easily altered into the more common one. For “the wings of the wind” cp. Psa_104:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) He was seen.—Psalms 18, “he did fly.” The…
(11) He was seen.—Psalms 18, “he did fly.” The two words are exceedingly alike in the Hebrew, and either could easily be mistaken for the other. The form in the psalm is far more poetical.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly;…
Vers. 11-13.
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; And he was seen upon the wings of the wind. And he made darkness booths round about him; Gathering of waters, thickenings of clouds. Out of the brightness before him Coals of fire burned. 2Sa_6:2 Jehovah is described as sitting upon the cherubim; his presence there, called by the rabbins his Shechinah, that is, dwelling, being indicated by a cloud of light. In this psalm the cherub is his chariot, on which he rides forth to judgment. He was seen. There can be little doubt that the right reading is preserved in Psa_18:10, where we find a verb signifying the swooping down of a bird of prey upon its quarry (Deu_28:49; Jer_48:40) The two words differ only in the substitution of r for d, and these letters are so similar in Hebrew that they are constantly interchanged. Booths; made of branches of trees, and forming a temporary abode. So the dark storm clouds are gathered round the Almighty to veil his awful form from sight as he goes forth for judgment. Gathering of waters; probably the right reading, instead of which in the psalm we find "dark waters." The gathering of waters would describe the massing of the rain clouds. The difference here also consists only in one letter. Out of the brightness, which closely surrounds the Deity in the midst of the black mass of the tempest, the lightning flashes forth. This brightness is the Shechinah (see above), to which St. Paul also refers where he says that God"s dwelling is in "the unapproachable light". (1Ti_6:16)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.