The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

2 SAMUEL 22:6KJV
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2 Samuel 22:6 (KJV)

What does 2 Samuel 22:6 mean?

2 Samuel 22:6 describes David’s sense of being trapped by deadly danger. He uses the language of the grave and a hunter’s traps to show how close death seemed and how completely danger surrounded him.

David speaks as a survivor looking back in a song of thanks to God. After the threatening waters in verse 5, verse 6 turns to cords and snares, pictures of something that can catch and hold a person.

The Hebrew behind 2 Samuel 22:6

  • “sorrows” — חֶבֶל (ḥevel): This word can mean a cord or rope. Here it is often understood as cords, fitting the picture of being bound or entangled.
  • “hell” — שְׁאוֹל (sheʾol): This word refers to the realm of the dead. In David’s picture, it gives a name to the danger drawing close around him.
  • “prevented” — קָדַם (qadam): This word can mean to meet or confront someone. In the KJV’s older English, “prevented” carries that sense; David pictures death’s snares coming up against him.

Why 2 Samuel 22:6 matters

  • The verse makes death seem like an active pursuer. The phrase “snares of death” gives death the role of a hunter setting traps for its prey.
  • David’s words belong to an account of deliverance, not just an account of danger. In verse 7, he calls to the Lord, and the song says that God hears his voice.

Where else these words appear

“prevented” Hebrew H6923 · used in 25 verses

  • Deuteronomy 23:4 Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.
  • Psalms 18:5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
  • Psalms 95:2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

“snares” Hebrew H4170 · used in 27 verses

  • Exodus 10:7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?
  • Job 34:30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
  • Proverbs 13:14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

“sorrows” Hebrew H2256 · used in 58 verses

  • Deuteronomy 3:4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
  • Job 21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
  • Isaiah 66:7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.

“hell” Hebrew H7585 · used in 63 verses

  • Genesis 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
  • Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
  • Proverbs 30:16 The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.