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Selected Verse: Psalms 18:4 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 18:4 |
King James |
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
sorrows--literally, "bands as of a net" (Psa 116:3).
floods--denotes "multitude." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The sorrows of death compassed me - Surrounded me. That is, he was in imminent danger of death, or in the midst of such pangs and sorrows as are supposed commonly to attend on death. He refers probably to some period in his past life - perhaps in the persecutions of Saul - when he was so beset with troubles and difficulties that it seemed to him that he must die. The word rendered "sorrows" - חבל chebel - means, according to Gesenius, "a cord, a rope," and hence, "a snare, gin, noose;" and the idea here is, according to Gesenius, that he was taken as it were in the snares of death, or in the bands of death. So Psa 116:3. Our translators, however, and it seems to me more correctly, regarded the word as derived from the same noun differently pointed - הבל chēbel - meaning "writhings, pangs, pains," as in Isa 66:7; Jer 13:21; Jer 22:23; Hos 13:13; Job 39:3. So the Aramaic Paraphrase, "Pangs as of a woman in childbirth came around me." So the Vulgate, "dolores." So the Septuagint, ὠδῖνες ōdines. The corresponding place in 2 Sam. 22 is: "The waves of death." The word which is used there - משׁבר mishbâr - means properly waves which break upon the shore - "breakers." See Psa 42:7; Psa 88:7; Jon 2:3. Why the change was made in the psalm it is not possible to determine. Either word denotes a condition of great danger and alarm, as if death was inevitable.
And the floods of ungodly men - Margin, as in Hebrew, "Belial." The word "Belial" means properly "without use or profit;" and then worthless, abandoned, wicked. It is applied to wicked men as being "worthless" to society, and to all the proper ends of life. Though the term here undoubtedly refers to "wicked" men, yet it refers to them as being worthless or abandoned - low, common, useless to mankind. The word rendered floods - נחל nachal - means in the singular, properly, a stream, brook, rivulet; and then, a torrent, as formed by rain and snow-water in the mountains, Job 6:15. The word used here refers to such men as if they were poured forth in streams and torrents - in such multitudes that the psalmist was likely to be overwhelmed by them, as one would be by floods of water. "Made me afraid." Made me apprehensive of losing my life. To what particular period of his life he here refers it is impossible now to determine. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
(Heb.: 18:5-7) In these verses David gathers into one collective figure all the fearful dangers to which he had been exposed during his persecution by Saul, together with the marvellous answers and deliverances he experienced, that which is unseen, which stands in the relation to that which is visible of cause and effect, rendering itself visible to him. David here appears as passive throughout; the hand from out of the clouds seizes him and draws him out of mighty waters: while in the second part of the Psalm, in fellowship with God and under His blessing, he comes forward as a free actor.
The description begins in Psa 18:5 with the danger and the cry for help which is not in vain. The verb אפף according to a tradition not to be doubted (cf. אופן a wheel) signifies to go round, surround, as a poetical synonym of סבב, הקּיף, כּתּר, and not, as one might after the Arabic have thought: to drive, urge. Instead of "the bands of death," the lxx (cf. Act 2:24) renders it ὠδῖνες (constrictive pains) θανάτου; but Psa 18:6 favours the meaning bands, cords, cf. Psa 119:61 (where it is likewise חבלי instead of the הבלי, which one might have expected, Jos 17:5; Job 36:8), death is therefore represented as a hunter with a cord and net, Psa 91:3. בליּעל, compounded of בּלי and יעל (from יעל, ועל, root על), signifies unprofitableness, worthlessness, and in fact both deep-rooted moral corruption and also abysmal destruction (cf. Co2 6:15, Βελίαρ = Βελίαλ as a name of Satan and his kingdom). Rivers of destruction are those, whose engulfing floods lead down to the abyss of destruction (Jon 2:7). Death, Belı̂jáal, and Sheôl are the names of the weird powers, which make use of David's persecutors as their instruments. Futt. in the sense of imperfects alternate with praett. בּעת (= Arab. bgt) signifies to come suddenly upon any one (but compare also Arab. b‛ṯ, to startle, excitare, to alarm), and קדּם, to rush upon; the two words are distinguished from one another like berfallen and anfallen. The היכל out of which Jahve hears is His heavenly dwelling-place, which is both palace and temple, inasmuch as He sits enthroned there, being worshipped by blessed spirits. לפניו belongs to ושׁועתי: my cry which is poured forth before Him (as e.g., in Psa 102:1), for it is tautological if joined with תּבא beside ושׁועתי. Before Jahve's face he made supplication and his prayer urged its way into His ears. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Death - Dangerous and deadly troubles. Floods - Their multitude, and strength, and violent assaults, breaking in upon me like a flood. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
The sorrows of death compassed me - חבלי מות chebley maveth, the cables or cords of death. He was almost taken in those nets or stratagems by which, if he had been entangled, he would have lost his life. The stratagems to which he refers were those that were intended for his destruction; hence called the cables or cords of death.
The floods of ungodly men - Troops of wicked men were rushing upon him like an irresistible torrent; or like the waves of the sea, one impelling another forward in successive ranks; so that, thinking he must be overwhelmed by them, he was for the moment affrighted; but God turned the torrent aside, and he escaped. |
3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.
13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?
7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
1 A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
8 And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
5 And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan;
61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.