Psalms 116:3

Psa 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Ver. 3. The sorrows of death compassed me] See Psa 18:4-5, Pictura poetica ingentium periculorum. Sorrows, or pangs, and those deadly ones, and these compassed me as a bird in a snare, or a beast in a gin.

The pains of hell (or the griefs of the grave) gat hold] Heb. found me, as Num 32:23.

I found trouble and sorrow] Straits inextricable cause sorrows inexplicable. The word signifieth such sorrow as venteth itself by sighing, Isa 35:10; Isa 51:11.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sorrows of death - What an expression! We know of no intenser sorrows pertaining to this world than those which we associate with the dying struggle - whether our views in regard to the reality of such sorrows be correct or not. We may be - we probably are - mistaken in regard to the intensity of suffering as ordinarily experienced in death; but still we dread those sorrows more than we do anything else, and all that we dread may be experienced then. Those sorrows, therefore, become the representation of the intensest forms of suffering; and such, the psalmist says, he experienced on the occasion to which he refers. There would seem in his case to have been two things combined, as they often are:

(1) actual suffering from some bodily malady which threatened his life, Psa 116:3, Psa 116:6,Psa 116:8-10;

(2) mental sorrow as produced by the remembrance of his sins, and the apprehension of the future, Psa 116:4. See the notes at Psa 18:5.

And the pains of hell - The pains of Sheol - Hades; the grave. See Psa 16:10, note; Job 10:21-22, notes; Isa 14:9, note. The pain or suffering connected with going down to the grave, or the descent to the nether world; the pains of death. There is no evidence that the psalmist here refers to the pains of hell, as we understand the word, as a place of punishment, or that he mean, to say that he experienced the sorrows of the damned. The sufferings which he referred to were these of death - the descent to the tomb.

Gat hold upon me - Margin, as in Hebrew, “found me.” They discovered me - as if they had been searching for me, and had at last found my hiding place. Those sorrows and pangs, ever in pursuit of us, will soon find us all. We cannot long escape the pursuit Death tracks us, and is upon our heels.

I found trouble and sorrow - Death found me, and I found trouble and sorrow. I did not seek it, but in what I was seeking I found this. Whatever we fail to “find” in the pursuits of life, we shall not fail to find the troubles and sorrows connected with death. They are in our path wherever we turn, and we cannot avoid them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa_116:3-4

The sorrows of death compassed me.

To souls in agony

I. First, here is the wretched condition into which many a poor awakened soul has been brought.

1. Many a troubled conscience feels the sorrows of death; that is to say, he is the subject of griefs similar to those which beset sinners on their dying beds. They are all around him--these sorrows of the past, and the present, and the future.

2. Awakened sinners sometimes feel what they describe as the pains of hell: not that any living man does endure the pains of hell to the extent which they are suffered in hell, but still a dreadful foretaste of those pains may he experienced by an awakened conscience. What are these pains of hell? Remorse; a sense of condemnation; a terrible despair; a crushing sense of misery.

3. But the case was worse than this, for the poor soul felt no alleviation and knew of no escape. These things were by themselves, unsoftened, left in all their terror, the gall was unmixed, the vinegar undiluted. Notice the language. The sorrows of death compassed me. It is a very strong word. When the hunters seek their prey they form a cordon around the poor animal that is to be destroyed. The poor panting creature looks to the right, but a man with a spear is there, he looks to the left and there are the dogs. Before and behind him are more spearmen, more hounds, more hunters; there is no way of escape. So does an awakened soul discern no rescue, no loophole by which it may be delivered. The text says, The pangs of hell gat hold upon me. Gat hold, as if the jaws of the lion had really gripped the lamb, or the paws of the bear were hugging the poor defenceless sheep. Gat hold upon me, as though Gods terrible sergeant from the court of justice had laid his band upon his shoulder, and said, I arrest thee in the name of God to lie in hells prison, and perish for ever. Many a soul has felt that, and felt also that it could not get away from the terrible grip.

4. Once more, the psalmist felt no comfort from any exertion that he made. That takes in the last sentence of the texts description. I found trouble and sorrow; so that he looked for something, but the only result of his search was that he found trouble and sorrow. Do you remember, in the days when you were under bondage on account of sin, how you bound yourself apprentice to Moses to work out your own salvation by your own goodness? What did you get? Surely you found trouble in the work, and sorrow as its wages. You found trouble and sorrow. Perhaps you went to Mr. Legality, and he and his son, Mr. Morality, did what they could for you; but if you were really awakened all that you got from them was trouble and sorrow. That was the whole result of it.

II. The awakened sinners course of action. What did he do? First, he called--called upon Gods name, lifted up his heart, and lifted up his voice, and called as a man might do who is lost in a fog and calls to a neighbour, hoping to hear a voice that will guide him; or as one who is far away in the bush of Australia and gives a call in the hope that some human voice may respond to it. This call is often described as a cry--a natural, simple, inartificial, unpleasant, but most effectual style of expressing our distress. Oh, sinner, if God has really been at work with you, and put you where I have been describing, you will call to God now. Now, notice, he says, Then called I upon the name of the Lord. The sinner had forgotten the Lord till then, and now the Lord came to his remembrance. When did he call? That is the important point in this text. Then called I upon the name of the Lord. Then. Was that the first time in his life? Perhaps it was. Begin at once, O sinner. When his condition was at its very worst, then he called upon God. Why did he not stop till he became better? He knew that delays are dangerous. And now for his prayer. Here it is--O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. A very natural prayer, was it not? He just said what he meant, and meant what he said, and that is the way to pray. It is a very short prayer. Many a prayer is too long by twenty times. It is smothered under a bed-full of words. It was a humble prayer: O Lord, I beseech Thee. It is the language of one who is bowed into the dust. It was an intense prayer: O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. But I want you most of all to notice that it was a scriptural prayer. There are three great little prayers in Scripture,--O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul; God, be merciful to me a sinner; and, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. These are all contained in the Lords Prayer. O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul, is Deliver us from evil. God be merciful to me a sinner,--what is that but Forgive us our trespasses? And what is the prayer, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom, but that grand petition, Thy kingdom come? How wonderfully comprehensive is that prayer which our Lord Jesus has given us for a model. All prayers may be condensed into it, or distilled from it.

III. Deliverance (verse 8). He gained a great deal more than he asked for. He prayed, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul, and God delivered his soul from death, his eyes from tears, and his feet from falling. He asked for one thing, and he obtained it, and two other things besides; for it is our Heavenly Fathers way to do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or even think. He gained deliverance from death; for souls can die though they cannot cease to exist. They die when separated from God; all souls are dead until by union to God they are quickened into spiritual life. His eyes were also cleared from tears. Who is not free from sorrow when he is free from the fear of the death-penalty? Forgiveness brings joy at its heel wherever it comes. And then, having gained salvation and joy, the Lord gave him stability. Those feet that were so apt to slide were set fast, and the fear of future apostasy was removed by the gracious securities which God gave to him that He would never leave him. Thus he had a blessing for his soul, his eyes, and his feet--salvation, joy, and stability. The last word to be said is this--these same blessings can be had by others. Gracious is the Lord and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. That is why the Lord heard Davids prayer--because He is gracious, and He loves to show grace to sinners. It was also because He is righteous, and therefore keeps His promise. Remember, too, that if your distresses are like Davids you may use the same prayer, because you have the same promises. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 3. The Psalmist now goes on to describe his condition at the time when he prayed unto God. The sorrows of death compassed me. As hunters surround a stag with dogs and men, so that no way of escape is left, so was David enclosed in a ring of deadly griefs. The bands of sorrow, weakness, and terror with which death is accustomed to bind men ere he drags them away to their long captivity were all around him. Nor were these things around him in a distant circle, they had come close home, for he adds,

and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. Horrors such as those which torment the lost seized me, grasped me, found me out, searched me through and through, and held me a prisoner. He means by the pains of hell those pangs which belong to death, those terrors which are connected with the grave; these were so closely upon him that they fixed their teeth in him as hounds seize their prey.

I found trouble and sorrow trouble was around me, and sorrow within me. His griefs were double, and as he searched into them they increased. A man rejoices when he finds a hid treasure; but what must be the anguish of a man who finds, where he least expected it, a vein of trouble and sorrow? The Psalmist was sought for by trouble and it found him out, and when he himself became a seeker he found no relief, but double distress.

Ver. 3. Here begins the exemplification of God's kindness to his servant; the first branch whereof is a description of the danger wherein he was and out of which he was delivered. Now, to magnify the kindness of God the more in delivering him out of the same, he setteth it out with much variety of words and phrases.

The first word ylbx, "sorrows, "is diversely translated. Some expound it snares, some cords, some sorrows. The reason of this difference is because the word itself is metaphorical. It is taken from cruel creditors, who will be sure to tie their debtors fast, as with cords, so that they shall not easily get loose and free again. The pledge which the debtor leaveth with his creditor as a pawn, hath this name in Hebrew; so also a cord wherewith things are fast tied; and the mast of a ship fast fixed, and tied on every side with cords; and bands or troops of men combined together; and the pain of a woman in travail, which is very great; and destruction with pain and anguish. Thus we see that such a word is used here as setteth out a most lamentable and inextricable case.

The next word, "of death" twm, sheweth that his case was deadly; death was before his eyes; death was as it were threatened. He is said to be "compassed" herewith in two respects: (1) To show that these sorrows were not far off, but even upon him, as waters that compass a man when he is in the midst of them, or as enemies that begird a place. (2) To show that they were not few, but many sorrows, as bees that swarm together.

The word translated "pains, "yrum, in the original is put for sacks fast bound together, and flint stones, and fierce enemies, and hard straits; so that this word also aggravates his misery.

The word translated "hell, "lwav, is usually taken in the Old Testament for the grave; it is derived from lav, a verb that signifieth to crave, because the grave is ever craving, and never satisfied.

The word translated "gat hold on me, "ygwaum, and "I found, "auma, are both the same verb; they differ only in circumstances of tense, number, and person. The former sheweth that these miseries found him, and as a serjeant they seized on him; he did not seek them, he would wittingly and willingly have escaped them, if he could. The latter sheweth that indeed he found them; he felt the tartness and bitterness, the smart and pain of them.

The word translated trouble, hru of dwu, hath a near affinity with the former word translated pain, dum of dwu, and is used to set out as great misery as that; and yet further to aggravate the same, another word is added thereto, "sorrow."

The last word, "sorrow, "Nwgy of hgy, imports such a kind of calamity as maketh them that lie under it much to grieve, and also moveth others that behold it much to pity them. It is often used in the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Either of these two last words, trouble and sorrow, do declare a very perplexed and distressed estate; what then both of them joined together? For the Holy Ghost doth not multiply words in vain. William Gouge.

Ver 3. Gat hold upon me. The original word is, found me, as we put in the margin. They found him, as an officer or serjeant finds a person that he is sent to arrest; who no sooner finds him, but he takes hold of him, or takes him into custody. When warrants are sent out to take a man who keeps out of the way, the return is, Non est inventus, the man is not found, he cannot be met with, or taken hold of. David's pains quickly found him, and having found him they gat hold of him. Such finding is so certainly and suddenly followed With taking hold, and holding what is taken, that one word in the Hebrew serves to express both acts. When God sends out troubles and afflictions as officers to attack any man, they will find him, and finding him, they will take hold of him. The days of affliction will take hold; there's no striving, no struggling with them, no getting out of their hands. These divine pursuivants will neither be persuaded nor bribed to let you go, till God speak the word, till God say, Deliver him, release him. I found trouble and sorrow. I found trouble which I looked not for. I was not searching after sorrow, but I found it. There's an elegancy in the original. The Hebrew is, "The pains of hell found me." They found me, I did not find them; but no sooner had the pains of hell found me, than I found trouble and sorrow, enough, and soon enough. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 3. See how the saints instead of lessening the dangers and tribulations, with which they are exercised by God, magnify them in figurative phraseology; neither do they conceal their distress of soul, but clearly and willingly set it forth. Far otherwise are the minds of those who regard their own glory and not the glory of God. The saints, that they may make more illustrious the glory of the help of God, declare things concerning themselves which make but little for their own glory. Wolfgang Musculus.

Ver. 3-7. Those usually have most of heaven upon earth, that formerly have met with most of hell upon earth. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow: (as Jonas crying in the belly of hell). But look upon him within two or three verses after, and you may see him in an ecstasy, as if he were in heaven; Ps 116:7: Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. Matthew Lawrence.

Ver. 3-4, 8. See Spurgeon's Sermon, "To Souls in Agony, " Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No 1216.

Ver. 3-5. The story of a tried soul.

1. Where I was. Ps 116:3.

2. What I did. Ps 116:4.

3. What I learned. Ps 116:5.

Ver. 3-6.

1. The occasion. (a) Bodily affliction. (b) Terrors of conscience. (c) Sorrow of heart. (d) Self accusation: "I found, "etc.

2. The petition. (a) Direct: "I called, "etc. (b) Immediate: "then, "when the trouble came; prayer was the first remedy sought, not the last, as with many. (c) Brieflimited to the due thing needed: "deliver my soul." (d) Importunate: "O Lord, I beseech thee."

3. The restoration. (a) Implied: "gracious, "etc., Ps 116:5. (b) Expressed, Ps 116:6, generally: "The Lord preserveth, "etc.; particularly; "I was brought low, " etc.: helped me to pray, helped me out of trouble in answer to prayer, and helped me to praise him for the mercy, the faithfulness, the grace, shown in my deliverance. God is glorified through the afflictions of his people: the submissive are preserved in them, and the lowly are exalted by them. G. R.

Psalms 116:4*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 116:3-4. The sorrows of death compassed me — Dangerous and deadly calamities as bitter as death: Hebrew, חבלי מות, cheblee maveth, the cords, or bands of death: see note on Psa 18:4-5. The pains of hell — Or of the grave, or of death; either cutting, killing pains, or such agonies and horrors as dying persons often feel within themselves; gat hold upon me — Hebrew, מצאוני, found me, that is, surprised me. Having been long pursuing me, at last they overtook and seized upon me, and I gave up myself for lost. Then called I upon the name of the Lord — Being brought to the last extremity, I made use of this, not as the last remedy, but as the old and only remedy which I had found, a balm for every wound.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. (Psa 116:3) The bands of death enclosed me, and the pangs of hell found me; distress and grief I find. Here begins the description of the sufferings from which God had delivered him. The expressions are borrowed from. Psa 18:4-5. The twofold use of the verb find in this verse is analogous to that of the synonymous verbs catch and seize in English, when a man is said to catch a disease, and the disease is said to seize the man. Compare Psa 119:143 with Pro 6:33. Hell, in the wide sense corresponding to Sheol, the grave, death, or the state of the dead. See above, on Psa 6:5.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

116:3 It isn’t clear if the psalmist’s crisis was a literal near-death experience or if he was using the term figuratively.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. The sorrows of death] חבלי מות chebley maveth, the cables or cords of death; alluding to their bonds and fetters during their captivity; or to the cords by which a criminal is bound who is about to be led out to execution; or to the bandages in which the dead were enveloped, when head, arms, body, and limbs were all laced down together.

The pains of hell] מצרי שאול metsarey sheol, the straitnesses of the grave. So little expectation was there of life, that he speaks as if he were condemned, executed, and closed up in the tomb. Or, he may refer here to the small niches in cemeteries, where the coffins of the dead were placed.

Because this Psalm has been used in the thanksgiving of women after safe delivery, it has been supposed that the pain suffered in the act of parturition was equal for the time to the torments of the damned. But this supposition is shockingly absurd; the utmost power of human nature could not, for a moment, endure the wrath of God, the deathless worm, and the unquenchable fire. The body must die, be decomposed, and be built up on indestructible principles, before this punishment can be borne.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) The pains of hell.—Or, oppressions of Sheôl, if we retain the text. But a very slight change in a single letter brings the clause into closer correspondence with Psa_18:5-6, whence it is plainly borrowed, the nets of Sheôl. We may reproduce the original more exactly by using, as it does, the same verb in the last two clauses of the verse:

Nets of Sheôl caught me,

Trouble and sorrow I catch.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The cords of death encompassed me,

And the straitnesses of Sheol gat hold of [lit. found] me.

The parallelism decides for the meaning cords in Psa_18:5, though pangs (LXX ὠδῖνες) is also a possible rendering, and may be the meaning here. But here too Death and Sheol are probably represented as hunters lying in wait for their prey with nooses and nets, or driving it into a defile from which it cannot escape. Cp. Lam_1:3.

The P.B.V. renders wrongly I shall find … I will call. The crisis is evidently past.

3, 4. The Psalmist’s prayer in peril. Cp. Psa_18:4-6.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sorrows of death compassed me,.... Christ, of whom David was a type, was a man of sorrows all his days; and in the garden he was surrounded with sorrow; exceeding sorrowful even unto death, in a view of the sins of his people imputed to him, and under a sense of wrath for them, he was about to bear; and his agonies in the article of death were very grievous, he died the painful and accursed death of the cross. This was true of David, when Saul and his men compassed him on every side, threatening to cut him off in a moment; when he despaired of life, and had the sentence of death in himself, and saw no way to escape; and such a case is that of the people of God, or they may be said to be compassed about with the sorrows of death, when through a slavish fear of it they are all their lifetime subject to bondage; and especially when under dreadful apprehensions of eternal death.

And the pains of hell gat hold upon me; or "found me" (e); overtook him, and seized upon him; meaning either the horrors of a guilty conscience under a sense of sin, without a view of pardon; which is as it were a hell in the conscience, and like the pains and torments of it: or "the pains of the grave" (f); not that there are any pains felt there, the body being destitute of life, and senseless; but such sorrows or troubles are meant which threaten to bring down to the grave, which was the case of Jacob on the loss of his children, Gen 37:35. This applied to Christ may design the wrath of God and curse of the law, which he endured in the room and stead of his people, as their surety; and which were equivalent to the pains of the damned in hell; or it may refer to his being laid in the grave, in a strait and narrow place, as the word (g) signifies; where he lay bound in grave clothes, till he was loosed from the pains and cords of death, it being not possible he should be held by them, Act 2:24; see Gill on Psa 18:4, Psa 18:5.

I found trouble and sorrow; without seeking for them; they seized and took hold of him, on David, and his antitype, when in the above circumstances; and often do the saints find trouble and sorrow from a body of sin and death, from the temptations of Satan, divine desertions, and afflictive providences. Aben Ezra refers the one to the body, the other to the soul.

(e) "invenerunt me", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (f) "sepulchri", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) "augustiae", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The sorrows of death; dangerous and deadly calamities, as bitter as death. Or, the cords of death.

Of hell; or, of the grave; or, of death; either killing pains, or such agonies and horrors as dying persons use to feel within themselves.

Gat hold upon me, Heb. found me, i.e. surprised me. Having been long pursuing me, at last they overtook me, and seized upon me, and I gave up myself for lost.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Sorrows of death—Hebrew, Cords of death, in allusion to the use of “cords,” or ropes, for leading animals, binding prisoners, punishment by strangulation, etc., in all which the idea of abject and helpless submission is conveyed. See 1Ki_20:31-32. Cords of death denote that the subject is condemned to die. See on Psa_118:5. The verse is a quotation from Psa_18:4-5.

Pains of hell—Hebrew, straits of sheol, מצר, (metzar,) radically means a compressed, narrow place, a strait, where a fugitive is easily captured, and figuratively, distress. The straits of sheol had shut him in; a proverbial phrase for the environments of death. The word occurs literally Lam_1:3, and figuratively Psa_118:5. In the text it is parallel to “cords of death,” in previous member.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 3-9. The psalmist describes his trouble (ver. 3), his prayer for deliverance (ver. 4), and his actual deliverance (vers. 5-9).

The sorrows of death compassed me; literally, the cords of death. (comp. Psa_18:4, where the same expression is used) Death is pictured as seizing his victim and binding him with cords. And the pains of hell gat hold upon me; or, "the straits of hell". (comp. Psa_118:5 Lam_1:3) Death and hell (shell) are closely connected together in the prayer of Hezekiah. (Isa_38:10, Isa_38:18) I found trouble and sorrow; or, "anguish and woe". (comp. Isa_38:12-17)

Vers. 3, 4. The experience of a deeply distressed soul.

The psalm is the utterance of the glad gratitude of some devout Israelite on his deliverance from mortal sickness. But it is capable of many applications. In the temple service it was used as a psalm of thanksgiving for God"s deliverance of Israel from their exile. Many have seen in it the setting forth of the sufferings of our Lord, and have applied the psalm generally to him. Others, again, take it, as do we, as describing, in vivid, impressive way, the experience of a soul that has known deep distress, but has been delivered therefrom by God"s exceeding grace. Therefore note

I THE DISTRESS. It is told of:

1. As the sorrows of death and the pains of hell, or the grave. Some render it "the snares," others, "the cords," of death. But the meaning is much the same, however the word be rendered. It must he remembered that the psalm was written in the dim light of the Old Testament as to the believer"s condition after death. And, compared with our own, that light was very dim. To the faithful servant of God now, who "dies in the Lord," there are no sorrows of death. Christ hath abolished death; and still less are there any pairs of hell. But the writer of this psalm did believe in them, as did all the saints of his day. And they meant for him, not burning flames or purgatorial fires, but exclusion from the presence of God. (see Psa_115:17, and parallels; Psa_31:22, etc.) These were the sorrows they dreaded. In death they would no more see so they feared God"s power and glory as they had seen them in the sanctuary. (Psa_63:2) The grave was to them the pit, the land of darkness and the shadow of death. These were the sorrows of death and the pains of hell, and they caused the deepest spiritual distress.

2. And there are the like of these still. When the soul feels itself shut out from God; when it has no hope; when nothing but the Divine condemnation seems possible to it; when it knows and feels itself to be utterly and hopelessly wrong; when it gazes wistfully upon the blessed promises of God, but is in abiding despair as to ever realizing them is certain it never shall; and that for it there is nothing but the fearful looking for of God"s indignation and of his fiery wrath. Souls not a few have passed, and are passing, through experience like that.

3. It is caused in various ways. Sometimes through deep conviction of sin when first the soul is awakened. And it is well for the after-life of the soul that there should be deep conviction wrought by the Holy Spirit, for then there is likely to be a permanent work done, and not a mere ephemeral and superficial one, such as is all too common. And oftentimes this experience is the result of back sliding from God (see Peter after his denial; Judas after his betrayal of the Lord). "Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of thine eye," let every Christian pray. At other times it is through a perverse habit of mistrust and doubt. The melancholy mass of miserable Christians are nearly all begotten of this wretched and God-dishonoring habit. And sometimes it is the result of disease in mind or body, or both. Then it is a pure affliction, and has to be accepted as such. But this is not often the case.

II THE DELIVERANCE.

1. See how thorough it was. (Ver. 8) "My soul from death." Sin is death, and until we are not free from that, whatever else we may be, we are not saved. "Mine eyes from tears." There has come peace and joy in God instead of anguish of soul. "My feet from falling." I not only begin the better life, but go and keep on in it. God"s salvation means this for us.

2. How it was won. Through prayer (ver. 4). How direct, definite, and to the point, this prayer was! So is all real prayer.

3. And how evident. (See vers. 9, 13) When we are saved, people will know it. Walking is a very visible act, as is the walking before the Lord. There is no invisible religion.

III THE DIVINE TEACHING FOR US ALL IN ALL THIS.

1. If till now you have never been convicted of sin, be thankful for your soul-distress, remembering its gracious intent.

2. If you are in Christi pray that you may never come into the soul-agony that the backslider knows.

3. If from any cause such distress be on you, despair not, but turn to God in prayer, earnest and definite, and persevere in faith till the deliverance comes.

4. If you have been delivered, go and declare to others what God has done for your soul.

5. And let your life show your love to God. S.C.

Depression attending sickness.

There is a most subtle connection between the body and the mind. This was recognized by the psalmist, when he found such comfort in saying of God, "He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." It is embodied in the familiar idea of the healthy manMens sana in corpore sano. The mind can only work through the body as its agent, and is as dependent on its condition as the workman on the state of his tools. The influence of body on mind is fully recognized in certain forms of sickness. When the nerves or certain vital organs are affected by disease, fits of depression are characteristic features, and extremely distressing features. When life is imperiled, there is often a bodily prostration which acts upon the mind, and produces something approaching despair. It is often hard to get sick folk to see the "bright light in the cloud." We are in danger, however, of making two mistakes in connection with this subject. We may make too much of the influence of the body on the mind, and so unworthily excuse bad mind-conditions. We may make too little of the influence of the body on the mind, and so unduly distress ourselves about our mental conditions. Both extremes should be avoided.

I THE DIVERSE INFLUENCE OF SICKNESSES. Different diseases have different effects. And the influence of any disease depends on the bodily organization, mental disposition, and even religious sentiments of the man in whom it works. It has different effects according to the season of the year, and the state of the atmosphere; and it varies even according as the patient is well or badly nursed. All these things man cannot estimate, but we may be sure God does.

II THE SPECIAL EFFECT OF SOME DISEASES. They directly affect the brain. They make a man become a sort of double self, as did the devil-possessions of our Lord"s time. There is the man of Christian trust and hope, and at the same time a man saying all sorts of bitter and unreasonable things against himself, and so a distress to him self and to all who have to deal with him.

III THE MENTAL CONFLICT OCCASIONED BY SICKNESSES. When this dual life is created, there must be conflict between the man of trust and the man of despair. The soul"s love to God struggles hard to hold its own. It persists in hoping on. And its persistency is seen at every moment when the tight grip of the disease is loosened. It is the constant conflict of the flesh and the spirit.

IV THE CONDITIONS OF SOUL-VICTORY UNDER SICKNESSES. To use a business expression, we must discount the influence of the body. We must keep from thinking about our spiritual state till we are free to judge it fairly. We must cling to what God is, and is to us. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sorrows - Dangerous and deadly calamities. Pains - Such agonies and horrors, as dying persons use to feel.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

hell

Heb. "Sheol," (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

The person who composed this psalm continues to speak.

The cords of death surrounded me

The writer speaks of death as if it were a person who could capture him and bind him with ropes. See how you translated this in Psalms 18:4. AT: "I felt like I was about to die" (See: Personification and Metaphor)

the snares of Sheol confronted me

The writer speaks of "Sheol," the place of the dead, as if it were a person who could trap him with snares. AT: "I felt as if I were ready to enter the grave" (See: Personification and Metaphor)

called on the name of Yahweh

Here the word "name" represents Yahweh himself. AT: "called out to Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)

rescue my life

Here the word "life" represents the person. AT: "rescue me" or "keep me from dying" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

die

snare

Hades

anguish

call

name

life

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

bands of death Heb. חבלי, bands of enemies who sought to kill me.

[The expressions] חבלי מות, חבלי שאוֹל, are all an expression of bands, like (I Sam. 10:5): “a band of (חבל) prophets.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.