Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 25:17
The troubles of my heart are enlarged: [O] bring thou me out of my distresses.
17. The verb rendered are enlarged cannot mean ‘augmented.’ It is all but certain that the consonants should be divided and vocalised differently, giving the appropriate sense, The straitnesses of my heart enlarge thou, and bring me &c.: i.e. relieve my distress. Cp. Psa 18:36; Psa 119:32.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The troubles of my heart – The sorrows which spring upon the heart – particularly from the recollections of sin.
Are enlarged – Have become great. They increased the more he reflected on the sins of his life.
O bring thou me out of my distresses – Alike from my sins, and from the dangers which surround me. These two things, external trouble and the inward consciousness of guilt, are not infrequently combined. Outward trouble has a tendency to bring up the remembrance of past transgressions, and to suggest the inquiry whether the affliction is not a divine visitation for sin. Any one source of sorrow may draw along numerous others in its train. The laws of association are such that when the mind rests on one source of joy, and is made cheerful by that, numerous other blessings will be suggested to increase the joy; and when one great sorrow has taken possession of the soul, all the lesser sorrows of the past life cluster around it, so that we seem to ourselves to be wholly abandoned by God and by man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. The troubles of may heart are enlarged] The evils of our captive state, instead of lessening, seem to multiply, and each to be extended.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The troubles of my heart; my outward troubles are accompanied with grievous torments of my mind and heart for my sins, which have procured them, and thy great displeasure manifested in them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The troubles of my heart are enlarged,…. His enemies being increased, which troubled him; the floods of ungodly men made him afraid; the waters of affliction were come into his soul, and spread themselves, and threatened to overwhelm him: or it may be rendered, as by some, “troubles have enlarged my heart” h; made him wiser, increased his knowledge and experience; see Ps 119:67; but the former seems better to agree with what follows;
[O] bring thou me out of my distresses; or “straits” i; for the enlargement of his troubles was the straitening of his heart; and therefore he applies to the Lord to bring him out of his afflicted circumstances, in which he was penned up, as in a strait place, on every side, and which were such that he could not free himself from; but he knew that God could deliver him.
h “dilataverunt cor meum”, Vatablus; “reddiderunt cor meum latius”, Gussetius, p. 786. i “ab angustiis meis”, Pagninus, Junius Tremellius so Musculus, Piscator, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Hiph. signifies to make broad, and as a transitive denominative applied to the mind and heart: to make a broad space = to expand one’s self (cf. as to the idea, Lam 2:13, “great as the sea is thy misfortune”), lxx , perhaps originally it was . Accordingly is admissible so far as language is concerned; but since it gives only a poor antithesis to it is to be suspected. The original text undoubtedly was ( , as in Psa 77:2, or , as e.g., in 2Ki 8:6): the straits of my heart do Thou enlarge (cf. Psa 119:32; 2Co 6:11) and bring me out of my distresses (Hitzig and others).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. In this verse he acknowledges not only that he had to contend outwardly with his enemies and the troubles which they occasioned him, but that he was also afflicted inwardly with sorrow and anguish of heart. It is also necessary to observe the manner of expression which he here employs, and by which he intimates that the weight and number of his trials had accumulated to such an extent that they filled his whole heart, even as a flood of waters bursting every barrier, and extending far and wide, covers a whole country. Now, when we see that the heart of David had sometimes been wholly filled with anguish, we need no longer wonder if at times the violence of temptation overwhelm us; but let us ask with David, that even whilst we are as it were at the point of despair, God would succor us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) The troubles.The consensus of commentators is for a different division of the Hebrew words.
. . . Relieve my sore heart,
And release me from my distress.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 25:17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: [O] bring thou me out of my distresses.
Ver. 17. The troubles of my heart are enlarged ] Whereby my heart is sorely straitened, so that I can hardly breathe: Oh, “hide not thine ear at my breathing,” at my cry, Lam 3:56 . En patet in curas area lata meas; all afflictions enter into mine heart, as by a wide gate (R. Obad.). Cor vix capax tribulationum mearum (Vat.).
Out of my distresses
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
enlarged, &c.: or, troubles have enlarged my heart: i.e. made it more sympathetic.
O bring: or Thou hast brought.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 34:19, Psa 38:1-8, Psa 42:7, Psa 77:2-4, Hab 3:17-19, 1Co 4:11-13, 2Co 4:8, 2Co 4:9
Reciprocal: 1Sa 30:6 – was greatly Psa 39:10 – Remove Psa 40:13 – Be Psa 116:4 – O Lord Psa 141:8 – leave not my soul destitute Psa 143:11 – bring
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 25:17-20. The troubles of my heart are enlarged My outward troubles are accompanied with grievous distresses of my mind and heart for my sins, which have procured them, and for thy great displeasure manifested in them. Look upon mine affliction With compassion, as Exo 3:7-8; Psa 31:7; Psa 106:44. And forgive all my sins The procuring and continuing causes of my trouble. David joins this petition to the foregoing one, because he considered, whatever afflictions and crosses were brought upon him, how just soever they might be, with respect to his enemies, who were the apparent causes of them; yet that, according to Gods appointment, or permission, they might be the effects and punishment of his sins. Dodd. O keep my soul Myself, or my life, as that word is commonly taken: for his soul was out of his enemies reach, who could only kill his body, Luk 12:4.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:17 The troubles of my heart {n} are enlarged: [O] bring thou me out of my distresses.
(n) My grief is increased because of my enemies cruelty.