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Selected Verse: Psalms 40:2 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ps 40:2 |
King James |
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit - Margin: "A pit of noise." The word used here means a pit; a cistern; a prison; a dungeon; a grave. This last signification of the word is found in Psa 28:1; Psa 30:4; Psa 88:4; Isa 38:18; Isa 14:19. It may refer to any calamity - or to trouble, like being in a pit - or it may refer to the grave. The word rendered "horrible" - שׁאון shâ'ôn - means properly "noise, uproar, tumult," as of waters; of a crowd of men; of war. Then it seems to be used in the sense of "desolation" or "destruction," as applicable to the grave. DeWette understands it here of a pit, a cavern, or an abyss that roars or is tumultuous; that is, that is impassable. Perhaps this is the idea - a cavern, deep and dark, where the waters roar, and which seems to be filled with horrors. So Rosenmuller understands it. The Septuagint renders it: ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας ek lakkou talaipōrias, "a lake of misery." It is a deep and horrid cavern, where there is no hope of being rescued, or where it would seem that there would be certain destruction.
Out of the miry clay - At the bottom of the pit. Where there was no solid ground - no rock on which to stand. See Jer 38:6; Psa 69:2, Psa 69:14.
And set my feet upon a rock - Where there was firm standing.
And established my goings - Or, fixed my steps. That is, he enabled me to walk as on solid ground; he conducted me along safely, where there was no danger of descending to the pit again or of sinking in the mire. If we understand this of the Redeemer, it refers to that time when, his sorrows ended, and his work of atonement done, it became certain that he would never be exposed again to such dangers, or sink into such a depth of woes, but that his course ever onward would be one of safety and of glory. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Pit - Desperate dangers and calamities. Rock - A place of strength and safety. Established - Kept me from falling into mischief. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
A horrible pit - Literally, the sounding pit; where nothing was heard except the howlings of wild beasts, or the hollow sounds of winds reverberated and broken from the craggy sides and roof.
The miry clay - Where the longer I stayed the deeper I sank, and was utterly unable to save myself. The Syriac and Arabic translate "The pit of perdition, and the mud of corruption." These are figurative expressions to point out the dreary, dismal, ruinous state of sin and guilt, and the utter inability of a condemned sinner to save himself either from the guilt of his conscience, or the corruption of his heart.
Set my feet upon a rock - Thou hast changed my state from guilt to pardon; from corruption to holiness; in consequence of which my goings are established. I have now power over all sin, and can walk steadily in the way that leads to God's kingdom. |
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.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
1 A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.