2 Samuel 22:34

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He makes his feet like hinds' [feet], Sets me on my high places.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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Word by word

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כָּאַיָּל֑וֹת

ʼayâlâh

H355

“like/as the · does”

Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 8× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 49:21

Full BDB Definition

Origin: feminine of H354

TWOT: 45l

doe, deer, hind

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
6: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is כָּאַיָּל֑וֹת doe H355 — appearing just 8 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

מְשַׁוֶּ֥ה to be like H7737

Shared distinctive vocabulary

כָּאַיָּל֑וֹת doe H355 occurs in 8 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns
1 preposition

Verb forms

מְשַׁוֶּ֥ה Piel · Participle Active
יַעֲמִדֵֽנִי Hiphil · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

רגליו foot H7272 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 14 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 2 Samuel 22:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, He ate the increase of the field; He made him to suck honey out of the rock, Oil out of the flinty rock;
Isaiah 58:14 then shall you delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.
Habakkuk 3:19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, And enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
2 Samuel 2:18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild gazelle.
Isaiah 33:16 He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given [him]; his waters shall be sure.
Deuteronomy 33:25 Your bars shall be iron and brass; As your days, so shall your strength be.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 2 Samuel 22:34 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

מְשַׁוֶּ֥ה רגליו רַגְלַ֖י כָּאַיָּל֑וֹת וְעַ֥ל בָּמוֹתַ֖י יַעֲמִדֵֽנִי

He makes his feet like hinds' [feet], Sets me on my high places.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 22:34 Septuagint · lemma form

τίθημι ὁ πούς ἐγώ ὡς ἔλαφος καί ἐπί ὁ ὕψος ἵστημι ἐγώ

He makes my feet like hart's feet, and sets me upon the high places.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

מְשַׁוֵי רִגְלַי קַלִילִין כְּאַיָלָתָא וְעַל בֵּית תּוּקְפֵי יְקִימִנָנִי:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on 2 Samuel 22:34 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

22:34 David probably encountered deerduring his many days of hiding out in hilly terrain and caves (1 Sam 19:11–27:12).

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

He useth extraordinary means to make me win most strongholds.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

34. like hinds’ feet] The hind, like the gazelle, was a type of agility, swiftness, and surefootedness, indispensable qualifications in ancient warfare. Cp. 2Sa_2:18; 1Ch_12:8.

setteth me upon my high places] The metaphor of the hind, bounding unimpeded over the mountain tops, is continued. David’s high places are the mountain strongholds, the occupation of which secured him in possession of the country. Cp. Deu_32:13. Hab_3:19 is an obvious imitation of this passage.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

34. Like the hinds — Nimble and swift. This was a great accomplishment to a warrior.

My heights — Mine both by divine gift and by right of conquest, so that on them I now stand in triumph and in safety.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

General Information:

David continues his song to Yahweh.

He makes my feet swift like a deer and places me on the high hills

Here David's feet are compared to those of a deer using exaggeration. Yahweh gives David the strength to move quickly and provides secure places for protection and rest. (See: Simile and Hyperbole and Generalization)

my hands ... and my arms

Both of these refer to David. (See: Synecdoche)

to bend a bow of bronze

Only a very strong man could use a bow made from metal.

translationWords

deer

bow and arrow

bronze

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

2 Samuel, in the Historical, opens this verse with 7 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼayâlâh (“doe”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “doe” (ʼayâlâh) shape what this verse is saying?
The word “to be like” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Genesis 49:21 shares the word «doe» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“foot” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «מְשַׁוֶּ֥ה» is Piel Participle Active. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
“foot” occurs 2× in this single verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.