He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.
Parallel translations
- WEB He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.
- KJV He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
- NKJV He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet.
- NASB “He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.
- NLT He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God bows the heavens and descends with thick darkness beneath his feet. The Lord himself comes down to rescue David.
Overview
The picture of God parting the heavens and coming down dramatizes his personal intervention. Darkness under his feet conveys hidden majesty and unsearchable power. The God who condescends to save his people here ultimately condescends fully in the incarnation, coming down to deliver us in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Kgs 8:12Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.
- Ps 144:5Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Exod 20:21And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
- Deut 4:11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
- Ps 104:3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Isa 64:1–3If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
- Nah 1:3The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
- Matt 27:45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- Luke 23:44–45It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.
How 2 Samuel 22:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.