Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 142:6
Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
6. A mosaic of phrases which occur elsewhere. Cp. Psa 17:1; Psa 79:8; Psa 7:1; Psa 31:15; Psa 18:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Attend unto my cry – Give ear to me when I cry to thee. Do not turn away and refuse to hear me.
For I am brought very low – I am reduced greatly; I am made very poor. The language would be applicable to one who had been in better circumstances, and who had been brought down to a condition of danger, of poverty, of want. It is language which is commonly applied to poverty.
Deliver me from my persecutors – Saul and his followers.
For they are stronger than I – More in number; better armed; better suited for battle.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. I am brought very low] Never was I so near total ruin before.
Deliver me from my persecutors] They are now in full possession of the only means of my escape.
They are stronger than I.] What am I and my men against this well-appointed armed multitude, with their king at their head.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
6. (Compare Ps17:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Attend unto my cry,…. His prayer and supplication for help in his distress, which he desires might be hearkened unto and answered;
for I am brought very low; in his spirit, in the exercise of grace, being in great affliction, and reduced to the utmost extremity, weakened, impoverished, and exhausted; wanting both men and money to assist him, Ps 79:8;
deliver me from my persecutors; Saul and his men, who were in pursuit of him with great warmth and eagerness;
for they are stronger than I; more in number, and greater in strength; Saul had with him three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, ablebodied men, and expert in war; veteran troops, and in high spirits, with their king at the head of them; David had about six hundred men, and these poor mean creatures, such as were in distress, in debt, and discontented, and in want of provisions, and dispirited; see
1Sa 22:2. So the spiritual enemies of the Lord’s people are stronger than they, Jer 31:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
His request now ascends all the more confident of being answered, and becomes calm, being well-grounded in his feebleness and the superiority of his enemies, and aiming at the glorifying of the divine Name. In Psa 142:7 calls to mind Psa 17:1; the first confirmation, Psa 79:8, and the second, Psa 18:18. But this is the only passage in the whole Psalter where the poet designates the “distress” in which he finds himself as a prison ( ). V. 8 b brings the whole congregation of the righteous in in the praising of the divine Name. The poet therefore does not after all find himself so absolutely alone, as it might seem according to Psa 142:5. He is far from regarding himself as the only righteous person. He is only a member of a community or church whose destiny is interwoven with his own, and which will glory in his deliverance as its own; for “if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it” (1Co 12:26). We understand the differently interpreted after this “rejoicing with” ( ). The lxx, Syriac, and Aquilaz render: the righteous wait for me; but to wait is and not . The modern versions, on the other hand, almost universally, like Luther after Felix Pratensis, render: the righteous shall surround me (flock about me), in connection with which, as Hengstenberg observes, denotes the tender sympathy they fell with him: crowding closely upon me. But there is no instance of a verb of surrounding ( , , , , , ) taking ; the accusative stands with in Hab 1:4, and in Psa 22:13, in the signification cingere . Symmachus (although erroneously rendering: ), Jerome ( in me coronabuntur justi ), Parchon, Aben-Ezra, Coccejus, and others, rightly take as a denominative from , to put on a crown or to crown (cf. Pro 14:18): on account of me the righteous shall adorn themselves as with crowns, i.e., shall triumph, that Thou dealest bountifully with me (an echo of Psa 13:6). According to passages like Ps 64:11; Psa 40:17, one might have expected instead of . But the close of Ps 22 (Psa 22:23.), cf. Psa 140:12., shows that is also admissible. The very fact that David contemplates his own destiny and the destiny of his foes in a not merely ideal but foreordainedly causal connection with the general end of the two powers that stand opposed to one another in the world, belongs to the characteristic impress of the Psalms of David that come from the time of Saul’s persecution.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Psa 142:6 Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
Ver. 6. For I am brought very low ] Exhausted and drawn dry; utterly wasted, and disabled to help myself any way, Depauperatus sum (Vat.).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
persecutors = pursuers.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 142:6-7
Psa 142:6-7
“Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low:
Deliver me from my persecutors;
For they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may give thanks unto thy name:
The righteous shall compass me about;
And thou wilt deal bountifully with me.”
“Attend unto my cry” (Psa 142:6). Again emphasizing the loud nature of this prayer, Briggs rendered this clause, “Attend unto my yell.
“They are stronger than I” (Psa 142:6). “In the cave of Adullam, David had only 400 outlaws to defend him against the tens of thousands of the armies of Saul, the king of Israel (1Sa 22:2).
“Bring my soul out of prison” (Psa 142:7). To this writer, it appears as simply amazing that some interpreters discover in this psalm the prayer of some “Israelite dying in jail”! To begin with, David’s “body” was not imprisoned here; his “soul,” that is his “spirit” was imprisoned by his enforced hiding from the armies of Saul. As Addis affirmed, “The term `prison’ in Psa 142:7 need not be taken in a literal sense. Also, as McCaw wrote, “Prison, not in the sense of `jail’, but in the sense of being restricted in movement.
“Thou wilt deal bountifully with me” (Psa 142:7). Thus, the psalm closes on a note of firm confidence in God and in his solution of all the problems that press upon David’s heart. God provides the refuge; he is the advocate on the right hand; his strength is the foil of every enemy; his love shall achieve its noble purpose in the person of “the man after God’s own heart.”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 142:6. When a man realizes his own weakness he is in a better prospect of seeking help from the Lord. Human power is small at best, but when the troubled soul comes to God in his own appointed way he will be able to win over his afflictions through the divine strength. This reminds us of the statement of Paul in 2Co 12:10.
Psa 142:7. The prison was the siege of persecutions that David’s enemies had cast around him. To deliver him from that situation would be like delivering one out of a prison. And by the same token, the persons with whom he would be surrounded after coming out of his prison would be righteous persons.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
for I am: Psa 44:24-26, Psa 79:8, Psa 116:6, Psa 136:23, Psa 143:3, Psa 143:7
for they: Psa 3:1, Psa 38:19, Psa 57:3, Psa 57:4, Psa 59:3, 1Sa 24:14, Rom 8:33, Rom 8:37
Reciprocal: Gen 32:11 – Deliver Psa 9:13 – consider Psa 17:1 – attend Psa 25:2 – let not Psa 31:15 – deliver Psa 35:17 – rescue Psa 40:2 – brought Jer 31:11 – stronger Act 12:7 – And his
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 142:6-7. Attend unto my cry, &c. O let my importunate cry prevail for some relief; which will come most seasonably in this exceeding great necessity; for I am brought very low And if thou do not help me I shall quite sink. Deliver me from my persecutors Either tie their hands, or turn their hearts; break their power, or blast their projects; restrain them, or rescue me. For they are stronger than I And it will be to thine honour to take part with the weakest. Deliver me from them, or I shall be ruined by them; for I am not yet myself a match for them. Bring my soul out of prison Not only bring me safe out of this cave, but bring me out of all my perplexities, and set me at perfect liberty; that I may praise thy name Not that I may enjoy myself and my friends, and live at ease; no, nor that I may defend my country: but that I may praise, glorify, and serve thee; the end this, which we ought to have in view in all our prayers for deliverance out of trouble, or for any other blessing. The righteous shall compass me about Shall flock to me from all parts, partly to see such a miracle of the divine power and mercy; and partly to rejoice and bless God with me and for me, and for all the benefits which they expect from my government. Observe reader, this prayer of David was heard and answered; he was delivered from his persecutors, enlarged from his distress, exalted to the throne, and joined by all the tribes of Israel. And let not us fear, though we be brought very low, and our persecutors, the world, the flesh, and the devil, be too strong for us; but God will deliver us, if we cry earnestly to him, from the bondage of sin and all our enemies, and redeem us from the prison of the grave, that we may join the great assembly before the throne, and there praise him for ever. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Again the psalmist begged God to help him escape from his overpowering enemies. He felt imprisoned, with no escape possible if God failed to save him. If God did deliver him he would thank the Lord, and other godly people would join David in his praise because of God’s abundant goodness.
When God’s people feel forsaken by all other human allies, they may turn to the Lord-who is always with the righteous. God is able to deliver His own, even if there are no other helpers. [Note: See R. B. Allen, And I . . ., pp. 181-97.]
"No matter the circumstances around us or the feelings within us, God cares for us (1Pe 5:7)." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 372.]