He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.
Parallel translations
- KJV He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.
- BSB He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath 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 said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
- Ps 144:5Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
- Exod 20:21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
- Deut 4:11You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
- Ps 104:3He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.
- Isa 64:1–3Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.
- Nah 1:3Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
- Matt 27:45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
- Luke 23:44–45It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole 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.