Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

2 Samuel 22:11

Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Torrey's Topical Textbook - Cherubim;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Psalms, the Book of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Samuel, the Books of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Cherub, Cherubim;   Poetry;   Samuel, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - David;   Poetry;   Salvation, Saviour;   Samuel, Books of;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   King James Dictionary - Cherub;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Samuel first and second books of;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Text of the Old Testament;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Cherub;   Hafṭarah;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He rode on a cherub and flew,soaring on the wings of the wind.
Hebrew Names Version
He rode on a Keruv, and did fly; Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
King James Version
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Lexham English Bible
He rode upon a cherub and flew; he was seen on the wings of the wind.
English Standard Version
He rode on a cherub and flew; he was seen on the wings of the wind.
New Century Version
He rode a creature with wings and flew. He raced on the wings of the wind.
New English Translation
He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind.
Amplified Bible
"He rode on a cherub and flew; He appeared upon the wings of the wind.
New American Standard Bible
"He rode on a cherub and flew; He appeared on the wings of the wind.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And he rode vpon Cherub and did flie, & hee was seene vpon the winges of the winde.
Legacy Standard Bible
He rode on a cherub and flew;And He appeared upon the wings of the wind.
Contemporary English Version
You rode on the backs of flying creatures. You appeared with the wind as wings.
Complete Jewish Bible
He rode on a keruv and flew, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
Darby Translation
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; And he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Easy-to-Read Version
He flew across the sky, riding on a Cherub angel, gliding on the wings of the wind.
George Lamsa Translation
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; he flew mightily upon the wings of the wind.
Good News Translation
He flew swiftly on his winged creature; he traveled on the wings of the wind.
Literal Translation
And He rode on a cherub, and did fly, and was seen on the wings of the wind.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He sat vpon Cherub and dyd flye, and appeared vpon the fethers of the wynde.
American Standard Version
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; Yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Bible in Basic English
And he went through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he rode vpon Cherub and did flee: he was seene vppon the winges of the winde.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
King James Version (1611)
And he rode vpon a Cherub, and did flie: and hee was seene vpon the wings of the winde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he rode upon the cherubs and did fly, and was seen upon the wings of the wind.
English Revised Version
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Berean Standard Bible
He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he stiede on cherubyn, and fliy; and he slood on the pennys of wynd.
Young's Literal Translation
And He rideth on a cherub, and doth fly, And is seen on the wings of the wind.
Update Bible Version
And he rode on a cherub, and flew; Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he rode upon a cherub, and flew: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
World English Bible
He rode on a cherub, and did fly; Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.
New King James Version
He rode upon a cherub, and flew;And He was seen Psalms 18:10); Targum reads He spoke with power.">[fn] upon the wings of the wind.
New Life Bible
He sat on a cherub and flew. He was seen on the wings of the wind.
New Revised Standard
He rode on a cherub, and flew; he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then he rode on a cherub, and flew, - and was seen on the wings of the wind;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he rode upon the cherubims, and flew: and slid upon the wings of the wind.
Revised Standard Version
He rode on a cherub, and flew; he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"And He rode on a cherub and flew; And He appeared on the wings of the wind.

Contextual Overview

2 He sang: "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. 4 I called on the Lord , who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies. 5 "The waves of death overwhelmed me; floods of destruction swept over me. 6 The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path. 7 But in my distress I cried out to the Lord ; yes, I cried to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears. 8 "Then the earth quaked and trembled. The foundations of the heavens shook; they quaked because of his anger. 9 Smoke poured from his nostrils; fierce flames leaped from his mouth. Glowing coals blazed forth from him. 10 He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet. 11 Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a cherub: Genesis 3:24, Exodus 25:19, 1 Samuel 4:4, Psalms 18:10, Psalms 68:17, Psalms 80:1, Psalms 99:1, Ezekiel 9:3, Ezekiel 10:2-14, Hebrews 1:14

upon the: Psalms 104:3, Psalms 139:9

Cross-References

Genesis 16:7
The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur.
Genesis 21:17
But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, "Hagar, what's wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.
Genesis 22:1
Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."
Genesis 22:9
When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
Genesis 22:10
And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.
Genesis 22:12
"Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son."
Genesis 22:16
"This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that
Exodus 3:4
When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, "Moses! Moses!" "Here I am!" Moses replied.
1 Samuel 3:10
And the Lord came and called as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel replied, "Speak, your servant is listening."
Acts 9:4
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind. :-.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 22:11. 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

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. Romans 15:9; Hebrews 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 Psalms 22:0, Psalms 40:0, 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 Samuel 22:0, which immediately precedes that in 2 Samuel 23:0, 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 Samuel 22:0 and 2 Samuel 23:0, 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."


 
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