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Psalm 18 · a question people ask

Why is this song in the Bible twice, and why aren't the two the same?

In the text

The Bible doesn't say. In 2 Samuel the song comes near the end of David's story: "David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul" (2 Samuel 22:1). In the book of Psalms it has a title: "For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of the LORD" (18:1). Many lines are the same in the WEB, and the last two are word for word (18:49-50 and 2 Samuel 22:50-51). Others differ, some by a single word (Go deeper sets some side by side). Neither book says how the song came to stand in both places, or which came first. These notes don't say either; each is quoted from its own verse.

The verses

“David spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul,”
2 Samuel 22:1 · World English Bible
“For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, I love you, LORD, my strength.”
Psalm 18:1 · World English Bible
“Therefore I will give thanks to you, LORD, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name. He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his offspring, forever more.”
Psalm 18:49-50 · World English Bible
“Therefore I will give thanks to you, LORD, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name. He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his offspring, forever more.””
2 Samuel 22:50-51 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 18

Psalm 18: I love you, LORD, my strength

Psalm 18 is 2 Samuel 22's song with its own first line, "I love you, LORD, my strength" (18:1): love there is racham, a verb used everywhere else for compassion. In the psalm David and his enemies cry with one verb; he was heard (18:6), they weren't (18:41). And Paul gives its praise "among the nations", also 2 Samuel 22's, as written of Christ's work (Romans 15:8-9).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions