Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 22:5

"For the waves of death compassed me; The floods of ungodliness made me afraid:" — 2 Samuel 22:5 (ASV)

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.