Verse 1

(1) Thou hast lifted me up.—The Hebrew word seems to mean to dangle, and therefore may be used either of letting down or drawing up. The cognate noun means bucket It is used in Exodus 2:19, literally of drawing water from a well; in Proverbs 20:5, metaphorically of counsel. Here it is clearly metaphorical of restoration from sickness, and does not refer to the incident in Jeremiah’s life (Jeremiah 38:13), where quite a different word is used.

Verse 3

(3) Grave.—Sheôl (See Note to Psalms 6:5.)

That I should not go down to the pit.—This follows a reading which is considered by modern scholars ungrammatical. The ordinary reading, rightly kept by the LXX. and Vulg., means from these going down to the pit, i.e., from the dead. (Comp. Psalms 28:1.)

Verse 4

(4) Sing unto . . .—Better, Play to Jehovah, ye saints of his. (See Note, Psalms 16:10.)

And give thanks.—Better, and sing praises to his holy name. (See margin.) Possibly Exodus 3:15 was in the poet’s mind. (Comp. Psalms 97:12.)

Verse 5

Verse 6

(6) And in.—Better, But as for me, in, &c. The pronoun is emphatic. The mental struggle through which the psalmist had won his way to this sublime faith is now told in the most vivid manner, the very soliloquy being recalled.

Prosperity.—Better, security.

I shall never be moved.—Better, I shall never waver.

Verse 7

(7) Lord, by thy favour—i.e., and all the while thou (not my own strength) hadst made me secure. The margin gives the literal rendering, but the reading varies between the text “to my mountain,” “to my honour” (LXX., Vulg., and Syriac), and “on mountains,” the last involving the supply of the pronoun “me.” The sense, however, is the same, and is obvious. The mountain of strength, perhaps mountain fortress, is an image of secure retreat. Doubtless Mount Zion was in the poet’s thought.

Thou didst . . .—The fluctuation of feeling is well shown by the rapid succession of clauses without any connecting conjunctions.

Verse 8

(8) I cried to thee.—The very words of “this utter agony of prayer” are given. But it is better to keep the futures in Psalms 30:8, instead of translating them as preterites, and make the quotation begin here. So Symmachus, “Then I said, I will cry to thee, O Lord,” &c

Verse 9

(9) What profit . . .—i.e., to God. For the conception of death as breaking the covenant relation between Israel and Jehovah, and so causing loss to Him as well as to them (for Sheôl had its own king or shepherd, Death) by putting an end to all religious service, comp. Hezekiah’s song; Isaiah 38:18. Comp. also Psalms 6:5, and note Psalms 88:11.) Plainly as yet no hope, not even a dim one, had arisen of praising God beyond the grave. The vision of the New Jerusalem, with the countless throngs of redeemed with harps and palms, was yet for the future.

Verse 11

(11) Thou hast turned for me.—This verse gives the answer to the prayer. Mourning is literally beating the breast, and therefore dancing forms a proper parallelism; or else, according to one derivation of the word, machôl would suggest piping. (See margin, Psalms 149:3; Psalms 150:4; see Smith’s Bible Dictionary, under “Dance;” and Bible Educator, vol. ii., p. 70; and comp. Note to Song of Solomon 6:13.)

Verse 12

(12) My glory.—The suffix is wanting in the Hebrew, and in all the older versions except LXX. and Vulg. The Chaldee versions make the word concrete and render “the nobles.” The Syriac, reading the verb in a different person, makes glory the object—“then will I sing to thee, Glory.” My glory would, as in Psalms 108:1, mean my heart. (See Note, Psalms 16:9.) Without the pronoun, we must (with Jerome) understand by “glory” renown or praise, which, as it were, itself raises songs; or it must be concrete, “everything glorious.”