Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, And I spread them out.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.
- KJV Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.
- BSB I ground them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like mud in the streets.
- NASB “Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and trampled them like the mud of the streets.
- NLT I ground them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trampled them in the gutter like dirt.
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
David crushed his enemies as fine as dust and street mud. His victory over them was thorough and complete.
Overview
The vivid imagery conveys the totality of the defeat God granted David over his adversaries. Within the holy-war setting, it depicts the decisive subduing of those who threatened God's kingdom. It anticipates the final, complete victory of God's reign over all that resists him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
- Isa 10:6I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- 2 Kgs 13:7For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.
- Zech 10:5They shall be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because Yahweh is with them; and the riders on horses will be confounded.
- Deut 32:26I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
- Mal 4:1“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Dan 2:35Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
- Ps 18:42Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.
- Luke 21:24They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- Ps 35:5Let them be as chaff before the wind, Yahweh’s angel driving them on.
- Isa 26:15You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.
- Zech 2:6Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 22:43 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.