1.
O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
1, 2. Compare on the terms used,
Psalms 22:2; Psalms 31:2.
2.
Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
3.
For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
3. grave—literally, "hell"
(Psalms 16:10), death in wide
sense.
4.
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
4. go . . . pit—of destruction
(Psalms 28:1).
as a man—literally, "a
stout man," whose strength is utterly gone.
5.
Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
5. Free . . . dead—Cut off
from God's care, as are the slain, who, falling under His wrath, are
left, no longer sustained by His hand.
6.
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
6. Similar figures for distress
in Psalms 63:9; Psalms 69:3.
7.
Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
7. Compare , on first, and Psalms 42:7,
on last clause.
8.
Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
8. Both cut off from sympathy
and made hateful to friends ().
9.
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
9. Mine eye mourneth—literally,
"decays," or fails, denoting exhaustion (Psalms 6:7;
Psalms 31:9).
I . . . called—
(Psalms 86:5; Psalms 86:7).
stretched out—for help
(Psalms 44:20).
10.
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
10. shall the dead—the remains
of ghosts.
arise—literally, "rise
up," that is, as dead persons.
11.
Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
11, 12. amplify the foregoing,
the whole purport (as Psalms 6:5)
being to contrast death and life as seasons for praising God.
12.
Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13.
But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
13. prevent—meet—that is, he
will diligently come before God for help ().
14.
LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
14. On the terms (Psalms 27:9;
Psalms 74:1; Psalms 77:7).
15.
I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
15. from . . . youth up—all my
life.
16.
Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
16, 17. the extremes of anguish
and despair are depicted.
17.
They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18.
Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.