Verses 17-20. -

"He stretched forth his hand from on high; he took me,
He drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From them that hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

For they attacked me in the day of my misfortune.
But Jehovah became my Staff,
And he brought me forth into a wide place
He delivered me, because he had pleasure in me." In the midst of this fearful convulsion of nature, while all around are stricken with panic, David sees a hand stretched out from above, ready to deliver him from the overwhelming flood of hatred and peril. Attacked me. The word does not signify "to prevent," or" anticipate," but "to assail" So in ver. 6, "The snares of death assailed me;" and in Isaiah 37:33, "The King of Assyria shall not attack this city with shield." It is the same verb in all these places. Staff; in the Authorized Version, "stay." But it means something to lean upon, and is rightly translated "staff" in Psalm 23:4. A wide place; in opposition to the straits of affliction. He had pleasure in me. In 2 Samuel 15:26 this confidence is gone, and David doubts whether the favour of Jehovah had not been forfeited by him.

22:1-51 David's psalm of thanksgiving. - This chapter is a psalm of praise; we find it afterwards nearly as Ps 18. They that trust God in the way of duty, shall find him a present help in their greatest dangers: David did so. Remarkable preservations should be particularly mentioned in our praises. We shall never be delivered from all enemies till we get to heaven. God will preserve all his people, 2Ti 4:18. Those who receive signal mercies from God, ought to give him the glory. In the day that God delivered David, he sang this song. While the mercy is fresh, and we are most affected with it, let the thank-offering be brought, to be kindled with the fire of that affection. All his joys and hopes close, as all our hopes should do, in the great Redeemer.He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. See Gill on Psalm 18:16.