2 Samuel 22:6 (DBY)

Passage

The bands of Sheol surrounded me; The cords of death encountered me;

Nearby Context

2 Samuel 22:4 I will call upon Jehovah, who is to be praised; So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

2 Samuel 22:5 For the waves of death encompassed me, Torrents of Belial made me afraid.

2 Samuel 22:6 The bands of Sheol surrounded me; The cords of death encountered me;

2 Samuel 22:7 In my distress I called upon Jehovah, And I cried to my God; And he heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry [came] into his ears.

2 Samuel 22:8 Then the earth shook, and quaked; The foundations of the heavens trembled And shook because he was wroth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "bands", "sheol", "surrounded", "cords", "death", and "encountered". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "bands" and "sheol", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "For the waves of death encompassed me..." into verse 7's "In my distress I called upon Jehovah...", so "bands" and "sheol" belong inside that flow. In 2 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "bands" and "sheol" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.