2 Samuel 22:26

THE MESSAGE

You stick by people who stick with you, you're straight with people who're straight with you, You're good to good people, you shrewdly work around the bad ones. You take the side of the down-and-out, but the stuck-up you take down a peg.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
With the faithfulyou prove yourself faithful,with the blamelessyou prove yourself blameless,

Hebrew Names Version
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect;

King James Version
With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

Lexham English Bible
With the loyal, you act as loyal, and with the blameless, you show yourself blameless.

English Standard Version
"With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

New Century Version
" Lord , you are loyal to those who are loyal, and you are good to those who are good.

New English Translation
You prove to be loyal to one who is faithful; you prove to be trustworthy to one who is innocent.

Amplified Bible
"With the loving and loyal You show Yourself loving and loyal, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless.

New American Standard Bible
"With the one who is faithful You show Yourself faithful, With the blameless one You prove Yourself blameless;

Geneva Bible (1587)
With the godly thou wilt shewe thy selfe godly: with the vpright man thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright.

Legacy Standard Bible
With the kind You show Yourself kind,With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

Contemporary English Version
You are always loyal to your loyal people, and you are faithful to the faithful.

Complete Jewish Bible
With the merciful, you are merciful; with the champion of purity, you are pure;

Darby Translation
With the gracious thou dost shew thyself gracious; With the upright man thou dost shew thyself upright;

Easy-to-Read Version
Lord, you are faithful to those who are faithful. You are good to those who are good.

George Lamsa Translation
With the good man thou wilt show thyself good, with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.

Good News Translation
O Lord , you are faithful to those who are faithful to you, and completely good to those who are perfect.

Literal Translation
With the faithful You show Yourself kind. With the upright man, You will show Yourself upright.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
With the holy shalt thou be holy, and wt the perfecte thou shalt be perfecte.

American Standard Version
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With the perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;

Bible in Basic English
On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
With the godly thou shalt be godlie: and with the man that is vpright, thou shalt be vpright.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
With the merciful Thou dost show Thyself merciful, with the upright man Thou dost show Thyself upright,

King James Version (1611)
With the merciful thou wilt shew thy selfe mercifull, and with the vpright man thou wilt shew thy selfe vpright.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
With the holy thou wilt be holy, and with the perfect man thou will be perfect,

English Revised Version
With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, with the perfect man thou wilt shew thyself perfect;

Berean Standard Bible
To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, and to the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
With the hooli thou schalt be hooli, and with the stronge, `that is, to suffre aduersitees pacientli, thou schalt be perfit;

Young's Literal Translation
With the kind Thou shewest Thyself kind, With the perfect man Thou shewest Thyself perfect,

Update Bible Version
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect;

Webster's Bible Translation
With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, [and] with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.

World English Bible
With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With the perfect man you will show yourself perfect;

New King James Version
"With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;

New Living Translation
"To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.

New Life Bible
"With the faithful You show Yourself faithful. With the one without blame You show Yourself without blame.

New Revised Standard
With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless you show yourself blameless;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
With the loving, thou didst show thyself loving, - with the blameless hero, thou didst show thyself blameless;

Douay-Rheims Bible
With the holy one thou wilt be holy: and with the valiant perfect.

Revised Standard Version
"With the loyal thou dost show thyself loyal; with the blameless man thou dost show thyself blameless;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"With the kind You show Yourself kind, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;

Contextual Overview

² God is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight. My God—the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout; My mountaintop refuge, he saves me from ruthless men. ⁴ I sing to God the Praise-Lofty, and find myself safe and saved. ⁵The waves of death crashed over me, devil waters rushed over me. Hell's ropes cinched me tight; death traps barred every exit. ⁷ A hostile world! I called to God , to my God I cried out. From his palace he heard me call; my cry brought me right into his presence— a private audience! ⁸Earth wobbled and lurched; the very heavens shook like leaves, Quaked like aspen leaves because of his rage. His nostrils flared, billowing smoke; his mouth spit fire. Tongues of fire darted in and out; he lowered the sky. He stepped down; under his feet an abyss opened up. He rode a winged creature, swift on wind-wings. He wrapped himself in a trenchcoat of black rain-cloud darkness. But his cloud-brightness burst through, a grand comet of fireworks. Then God thundered out of heaven; the High God gave a great shout. God shot his arrows—pandemonium! He hurled his lightnings—a rout! The secret sources of ocean were exposed, the hidden depths of earth lay uncovered The moment God roared in protest, let loose his hurricane anger. ¹⁷But me he caught—reached all the way from sky to sea; he pulled me out Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos, the void in which I was drowning. They hit me when I was down, but God stuck by me. He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved—surprised to be loved! ²¹ God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. When I cleaned up my act, he gave me a fresh start. Indeed, I've kept alert to God 's ways; I haven't taken God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works, I try not to miss a trick. I feel put back together, and I'm watching my step. God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. ²⁶You stick by people who stick with you, you're straight with people who're straight with you, You're good to good people, you shrewdly work around the bad ones. You take the side of the down-and-out, but the stuck-up you take down a peg. ²⁹Suddenly, God , your light floods my path, God drives out the darkness. I smash the bands of marauders, I vault the high fences. What a God! His road stretches straight and smooth. Every God -direction is road-tested. Everyone who runs toward him Makes it. ³²Is there any god like God ? Are we not at bedrock? Is not this the God who armed me well, then aimed me in the right direction? Now I run like a deer; I'm king of the mountain. He shows me how to fight; I can bend a bronze bow! You protect me with salvation-armor; you touch me and I feel ten feet tall. You cleared the ground under me so my footing was firm. When I chased my enemies I caught them; I didn't let go till they were dead men. I nailed them; they were down for good; then I walked all over them. You armed me well for this fight; you smashed the upstarts. You made my enemies turn tail, and I wiped out the haters. They cried "uncle" but Uncle didn't come; They yelled for God and got no for an answer. I ground them to dust; they gusted in the wind. I threw them out, like garbage in the gutter. You rescued me from a squabbling people; you made me a leader of nations. People I'd never heard of served me; the moment they got wind of me they submitted. They gave up; they came trembling from their hideouts.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the merciful: Matthew 5:7, James 2:13

Gill's Notes on the Bible

With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, [and] with the upright man thou wilt show thyself upright.

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