Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 22

He said. —The psalm here lacks the opening line of Psalm 18:0, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, forming a fitting introduction to the whole.

The God of my rock. — In the psalm, My God, my rock (margin). The two expressions of the psalm are united here in one, and the recurrence of the similar expression in 2 Samuel 22:47 (though not in the psalm) indicates that this was intentional.

And my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. — These words are omitted from the psalm, being compensated for in part by the opening line there.

The waves of death. —In Psalms 18:0, the sorrows of death, in the Authorised Version, but literally, the bands of death. The word is entirely different, and the variation can hardly have been accidental. The form here accords better with the parallelism of the next clause.

Called ... cried. —The original words are the same here, although differing in the parallel place in the psalm.

My cry did enter into his ears. —Literally, my cry in his ears, an elliptical expression which is filled out in the psalm, my cry came before him, even into his ears.

Of heaven. —Psalms 18:0, of the hills. The thought is the same, but the strong poetic figure by which the mountains are spoken of as the pillars of heaven is softened in the psalm.