2 Samuel 22:45

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The foreigners shall submit themselves to me: As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יִתְכַּֽחֲשׁוּ

kâchash

H3584

“to deceive”

Verb, Hithpael, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 22× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 18:15

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 975

to deceive, lie, fail, grow lean, be disappointing, be untrue, be insufficient, be found liars, belie, deny, dissemble, deal falsely - (Qal) to become lean - (Niphal) to cringe, feign obedience - (Piel) - to deceive, deny falsely - to act deceptively - to cringe - to disappoint, fail - (Hithpael) to cringe, feign obedience

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 →

8: words
5: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is יִתְכַּֽחֲשׁוּ to deceive H3584 — appearing just 22 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יִתְכַּֽחֲשׁוּ to deceive H3584 occurs in 22 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
2 prepositions

Verb forms

יִתְכַּֽחֲשׁוּ Hithpael · Imperfect
לִשְׁמ֥וֹעַ Qal · Infinitive Construct
יִשָּׁ֥מְעוּ Niphal · Imperfect

Repetition

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

לִשְׁמ֥וֹעַ to hear H8085 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 16 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 8 Hebrew tokens and 9 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 22:45 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 81:15 The haters of Yahweh would cringe before him, And their punishment would last forever.
Psalms 66:3 Tell God, "How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
Deuteronomy 33:29 Happy are you, Israel: Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, The shield of your help, The sword of your excellency! Your enemies shall submit themselves to you; You shall tread on their high places.
Psalms 18:44–45 As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.
Isaiah 56:3 Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, Yahweh will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
Isaiah 56:6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to minister to him, and to love the name of Yahweh, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;
Acts 8:13 Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occuring, he was amazed.
Acts 8:21–23 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn't right before God.

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 22:45 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

בְּנֵ֥י נֵכָ֖ר יִתְכַּֽחֲשׁוּ לִ֑י לִשְׁמ֥וֹעַ אֹ֖זֶן יִשָּׁ֥מְעוּ לִֽי

The foreigners shall submit themselves to me: As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 2 Samuel 22:45 Septuagint · lemma form

υἱός ἀλλότριος ψεύδω ἐγώ εἰς ἀκοή ὠτίον ἀκούω ἐγώ

The strange children feigned obedience to me; they listened to me as soon as they heard.

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)

בְּנֵי עַמְמַיָא יִתְכַּדְבוּן לִי לִשְׁמוֹעַ אוֹדֶן יִשְׁתַּמְעוּן בִּי:

(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 22:45 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 →

The Biblical Illustrator

Joseph S. Exell

2Sa_22:45

As soon as they hear they shall be obedient unto me.

The magnetism of a great personality

William Wetmore Story tells an interesting tale of James Russell Lowell and himself. It was when they were young men, and they were very angry with Daniel Webster for staying in Tylers cabinet, and, as he was to speak in Faneuil Hall one evening, they determined to go in from the Harvard Law School and hoot at him, and shew him that he bad incurred their displeasure. The house was packed with people, and the young men felt sure that the crowd would hoot with them, young as they were. But they reckoned without their host. Mr. Story says: Mr. Webster, beautifully dressed, stepped forward. His great eyes looked, as I shall always think, straight at me. I pulled off my hat; James pulled off his. We both became as cold as ice, and as respectful as Indian coolies. I saw James turn pale; he said I was livid. And when the great orator began that most beautiful exordium, our scorn turned to deepest admiration, from abject contempt to belief and approbation.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Not willingly obeying me, but dissemblingly.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(45) As soon as they hear.—This and the previous clause are transposed in the psalm, this clause there constituting 2Sa_22:44.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

45. shall submit themselves unto me] Submitted themselves unto me. The marginal rendering, yield feigned obedience, gives the original meaning of the word, which according to its derivation seems to denote the unwilling homage extorted from the vanquished by their conqueror. Cp. Deu_33:29; Psa_66:3; Psa_81:15.

as soon as they hear, &c.] At the mere rumour of David’s victories they offer their allegiance, as for example Toi king of Hamath did (ch. 2Sa_8:9 ff.).

In Psa_18:44 the order of the clauses is inverted.

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

45. Sons of the stranger — People of foreign parts. Alexander renders, “the sons of outland.”

Fawn upon me — Cringingly, but with deceptive hearts, they pretend submission.

At the hearing of the ear — At the thrilling report of David’s victories.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

Lied to me. Out of fear they told me lies.

[As soon] as their ears hear [my wish] they listen to [and obey] me. Even when they are not in my presence they are fearful of me [to the point that as soon] as their ears hear [my wish], they move [to obey] my command.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

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 8 words (5 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kâchash (“to deceive”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to deceive” (kâchash) shape what this verse is saying?
Genesis 18:15 shares the word «to deceive» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to hear” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יִתְכַּֽחֲשׁוּ» is Hithpael Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how The Biblical Illustrator and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 9 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
“to hear” occurs 2× in this single verse.
5 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.