Psalms 69:14

Psa 69:14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Ver. 14. Deliver me out of the mire] i.e. De civitate Gehennae, from the state of hell, saith the Hebrew scholiast; {a} out of that deadly danger whereof he had complained, Psa 69:2. Alphonsus, king of Arragon, by a gracious condescension, helped a laden ass out of the mire with his own hand, and is renowned for it in history (Val. Max. Christ. 41). God helpeth his out full oft, and little notice is taken of it.

{a} One who writes explanatory notes upon an author; esp. an ancient commentator upon a classical writer.

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.

Psa_69:14

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.

The believer sinking in the mire

Many rivers, and especially the Nile, have on their banks deep deposits of black mud, and it is most perilous for any who have the misfortune to fall into it. The more they struggle to get out the deeper they sink. Travellers tell of such incidents. Had David really witnessed such a scene, that speaking of his spiritual sorrows, he said, I sink in deep mire where there is no standing? Now, the prayer of our text suggests--

I. That the true believer may be. In the mire and very near sinking.

1. In the mire of unbelief. Even the firmest in faith lose their foothold at times. All manner of doubts crowd into the mind. They are compelled to pray this prayer.

2. Through lack of full assurance of his own interest in Christ.

3. The mire of temporal trouble.

4. Of inward corruption.

5. Of Satanic temptations.

6. Various are the causes of this sad condition. Sometimes it is through our own sin. It is a chastisement upon us. Sometimes to try our faith; or that we may the better glorify God, or to show the natural weakness of the creature, that no flesh may glory in man; or to make heaven sweeter when we enter its pearly gates. But all the while, these sinking ones are really Gods people, for if they were not, they would have no such trouble. The sinner whose element is sin laughs at the weight by which the believer is borne down. The best of Gods saints have known such trouble. Luther did, and John Knox, and many more.

II. But when in such a state they know that their only help is in God. The Bible cannot help, for unbelief bars you off from all its precious promises. Other believers cannot aid you. God alone can.

III. Prayer is the Christians never-failing resort. When you cannot use your sword, you may take the weapon of all-prayer. That is never forbidden. And it is never futile, it ever has true power. Oh, never let us cease to pray. In asthma you say, I cannot breathe; but you must breathe if you would live. And so in the condition told of here you must, though you think you cannot, pray. But let us walk carefully, lest we fall into the mire. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

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

Psa 69:14-18. Let me be delivered from them that hate me — By thus speaking, he explains his meaning in the metaphors here used of mire, waters, deep, and pit. For thy loving-kindness is good — Is eminently and unspeakably good; is gracious, or bountiful; the positive degree being put for the superlative: it is most ready to communicate itself to miserable and indigent creatures: the Hebrew word חסד, chesed, here used, signifying abundance of goodness, or mercifulness. Draw nigh unto my soul — To support and relieve it, O thou who seemest to be departed far away from me. Deliver me because of mine enemies — Because they are enemies to thee as well as to me, and if they succeed, will triumph, not only over me, but in some sort over thee and over religion.

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

15. (Psa 69:14). Deliver me from the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from my haters, from the depths of water. He here returns to the figures in Psa 69:1, where profound suffering is described as submersion under water and in mire. The meaning of the figure is explained in the last clause of the verse before us by the addition of a literal expression.

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

He showeth a lively faith, in that that he assureth himself, that God is favorable to him, when he seemeth to be angry: and at hand when he seemeth to be far off.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

14. Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink. The Psalmist repeats the same similitude which he had used before, but in a different manner. He had previously said that he was sunk in the mire, and now he prays that he may not sink in it. In short, he now prays that those things may not now befall him which he had formerly complained of as having befallen him. But it is very easy to reconcile this diversity of statement; for in the opening of the psalm he spake according to his actual feeling and experience; but now, looking to the issue, although living in the midst of death, he cherishes the hope of deliverance. This is expressed still more clearly in the last clause of the 15th verse, where he prays, Let not the pit close its mouth upon me; which is as if he had said, Let not the great multitude and weight of my afflictions overwhelm me, and let not sorrow swallow me up.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

14, 15. In his prayer he repeats the words which he had previously used to describe his plight (Psa_69:2; Psa_69:4). It is difficult to see why the R.V. has substituted overwhelm for overflow here and not in Psa_69:2, the Heb. word being the same in both cases.

let not the pit &c.] Either the grave (Psa_55:23), or a dungeon (Lam_3:53; Lam_3:55), may be meant. In the latter case Jeremiah’s experience (ch. Psa_38:6) may have suggested the metaphor; but the words are not to be understood literally of release from Malchiah’s dungeon.

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.

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink,.... In which he was sinking, Psa 69:2; and accordingly he was delivered out of it, Psa 11:2; even out of all the mire of sin, the sins of his people that were upon him, from which he was justified when raised from the dead; and so will appear without sin, when he comes a second time:

let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters; these phrases design the same, even the enemies of Christ; such that hated him, compared to deep waters: these are the floods of the ungodly, and the many waters out of which he was drawn and delivered, Psa 18:4.

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

Deliver me out of the mire - Out of my troubles and calamities. See Psa 69:1-2.

And let me not sink - As in, mire. Let me not be overwhelmed by my sorrows.

Let me be delivered from them that hate me - All my enemies. Let me be saved from their machinations and devices.

And out of the deep waters - See Psa 69:1-2. From my troubles.

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

Them that hate me; whereby he explains his meaning in these metaphors of mire, and waters, and deep, and pit.

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

Ver. 14. Deliver me out of the mire and let me not sink. He turns into prayer the very words of his complaint; and it is well, if, when we complain, we neither feel nor say anything which we should fear to utter before the Lord as a prayer. We are allowed to ask for deliverance from trouble as well as for support under it; both petitions are here combined. How strange it seems to hear such language from the Lord of glory. Let me be delivered from them that hate, me, and out of the deep waters. Both from his foes, and the griefs which they caused him, he seeks a rescue. God can help us in all ways, and we may, therefore, put up a variety of requests without fear of exceeding our liberty to ask, or his ability to answer.

None.

Ver. 14-16.

I. The depth from which prayer may rise.

II. The height to which it may ascend. Thus Jonah, when

at the bottom of the sea, says, "My prayer came up, "

etc. G. R.

Psalms 69:15*

Ver. 14-16.

I. The depth from which prayer may rise.

II. The height to which it may ascend. Thus Jonah, when

at the bottom of the sea, says, "My prayer came up, "

etc. G. R.

Ver. 14-16.

I. The depth from which prayer may rise.

II. The height to which it may ascend. Thus Jonah, when

at the bottom of the sea, says, "My prayer came up, "

etc. G. R.

Psalms 69:17*

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

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink (comp. ver. 2, with the comment). Let me be delivered from them that hate me (see ver. 4). And out of the deep waters (comp. vers. 1, 2).

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

In this second part the petition by which the first is as it were encircled, is continued; the peril grows greater the longer it lasts, and with it the importunity of the cry for help. The figure of sinking in the mire or mud and in the depths of the pit (בּאר, Ps 55:24, cf. בור, Psa 40:3) is again taken up, and so studiously wrought out, that the impression forces itself upon one that the poet is here describing something that has really taken place. The combination "from those who hate me and from the depths of the waters" shows that "the depths of the waters" is not a merely rhetorical figure; and the form of the prayer: let not the pit (the well-pit or covered tank) close (תּאטּר with Dagesh in the Teth, in order to guard against its being read תּאטר; cf. on the signification of אטּר, clausus = claudus, scil. manu) its mouth (i.e., its upper opening) upon me, exceeds the limits of anything that can be allowed to mere rhetoric. "Let not the water-flood overflow me" is intended to say, since it has, according to Psa 69:3, already happened, let it not go further to my entire destruction. The "answer me" in Psa 69:17 is based upon the plea that God's loving-kindness is טּוב, i.e., good, absolutely good (as in the kindred passion-Psalm, Psa 109:21), better than all besides (Psa 63:4), the means of healing or salvation from all evil. On Psa 69:17 cf. Psa 51:3, Lam 3:32. In Psa 69:18 the prayer is based upon the painful situation of the poet, which urgently calls for speedy help (מהר beside the imperative, Psa 102:3; Psa 143:7; Gen 19:22; Est 6:10, is certainly itself not an imperative like הרב, Psa 51:4, but an adverbial infinitive as in Psa 79:8). קרבה, or, in order to ensure the pronunciation ḳorbah in distinction from ḳārbah, Deu 15:9, קרבה (in Baer,

(Note: Originally - was the sign for every kind of o6, hence the Masora includes the חטוף also under the name קמץ חטף; vid., Luther. Zeitschrift, 1863, S. 412,f., cf. Wright, Genesis, p. xxix.))

is imperat. Kal; cf. the fulfilment in Lam 3:57. The reason assigned, "because of mine enemies," as in Psa 5:9; Psa 27:11, and frequently, is to be understood according to Psa 13:5 : the honour of the all-holy One cannot suffer the enemies of the righteous to triumph over him.

(Note: Both נפשׁי and איבי, contrary to logical interpunction, are marked with Munach; the former ought properly to have Dech, and the latter Mugrash. But since neither the Athnach-word nor the Silluk-word has two syllables preceding the tone syllable, the accents are transformed according to Accentuationssystem, xviii. 2, 4.)

The accumulation of synonyms in Psa 69:20 is Jeremiah's custom, Jer 13:14; Jer 21:5, Jer 21:7; Jer 32:37, and is found also in Ps 31 (Psa 31:10) and Ps 44 (Psa 44:4, Psa 44:17, Psa 44:25). On הרפּה שׁברה לבּי, cf. Psa 51:19, Jer 23:9. The ἅπαξ γεγραμ, ואנוּשׁה (historical tense), from נוּשׁ, is explained by ענוּשׁ from אנשׁ, sickly, dangerously ill, evil-disposed, which is a favourite word in Jeremiah. Moreover נוּד in the signification of manifesting pity, not found elsewhere in the Psalter, is common in Jeremiah, e.g., Psa 15:5; it signifies originally to nod to any one as a sign of a pity that sympathizes with him and recognises the magnitude of the evil. "To give wormwood for meat and מי־ראשׁ to drink" is a Jeremianic (Jer 8:14; Jer 9:14; Jer 23:15) designation for inflicting the extreme of pain and anguish upon one. ראשׁ (רושׁ) signifies first of all a poisonous plant with an umbellated head of flower or a capitate fruit; but then, since bitter and poisonous are interchangeable notions in the Semitic languages, it signifies gall as the bitterest of the bitter. The lxx renders: καὶ ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ βρῶμά μου χολήν, καὶ εἰς τὴν δίψαν μου ἐπότισάν με ὄξος. Certainly נתן בּ can mean to put something into something, to mix something with it, but the parallel word לצמאי (for my thirst, i.e., for the quenching of it, Neh 9:15, Neh 9:20) favours the supposition that the בּ of בּברוּתי is Beth essentiae, after which Luther renders: "they give me gall to eat." The ἅπαξ γεγραμ. בּרוּת (Lam 4:10 בּרות) signifies βρῶσις, from בּרה, βιβρώσκειν (root βορ, Sanscrit gar, Latin vor-are).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

But, as for me, may my prayer to You, O Lord, be may the time of my prayer be a desirable time.

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.