Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 30:8
I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
8. The tense in the original is inadequately represented by a simple perfect, though its precise force is not easy to define. It may express the frequent repetition of the prayer, or, like a historic present, it may set the action vividly before us as in actual progress (App., Note IV); or possibly throwing himself back into the past, the Psalmist gives the words of his resolution: [I said,] Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call (= Psa 28:1); yea, unto the Lord (the best attested reading is Adonai) will I make supplication (Psa 142:1).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8 10. By trouble he learnt whence his strength came, and betook himself to prayer. Psa 30:9-10 are the words of his prayer.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I cried to thee, O Lord – That is, when those reverses came, and when that on which I had so confidently relied was taken away, I called upon the Lord; I uttered an earnest cry for aid. The prayer which he uttered on the occasion is specified in the following verses. The idea here is, that he was not driven from God by these reverses, but TO him. He felt that his reliance on those things in which he had put his trust was vain, and he now came to God, the true Source of strength, and sought His protection and favor. This was doubtless the design of the reverses which God had brought upon him; and this will always be the effect of the reverses that come upon good men. When they have placed undue reliance upon wealth, or health, or friends, and when these are taken away, the effect will be to lead them to God in earnest prayer. God designs to bring them back, and they do come back to him. Afflictions are always, sooner or later, effectual in bringing good men back to God. The sinner is often driven from God by trial; the good man is brought back to find his strength and comfort in God. The one complains, and murmurs, and is wretched; the other prays, and submits, and is made more happy than he was in the days of his prosperity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. I cried to thee, O Lord] I found no help but in him against whom I had sinned. See his confession and prayer, 2Sa 24:17.
Made supplication.] Continued to urge my suit; was instant in prayer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
8-11. As in Psa 6:5;Psa 88:10; Isa 38:18,the appeal for mercy is based on the destruction of his agency inpraising God here, which death would produce. The terms expressingrelief are poetical, and not to be pressed, though “dancing”is the translation of a word which means a lute, whosecheerful notes are contrasted with mourning, or (Am5:16) wailing.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I cried to thee, O Lord,…. In his trouble, when the Lord had hid his face from him, and he was sensible that he had departed from him: he was not stupid and unaffected with it; nor did he turn his back upon God, and seek to others; but he cried after a departing God, which showed love to him, and some degree of faith in him, by looking again towards his holy temple, and waiting upon him until he returned;
and unto the Lord I made supplication; in the most humble manner; entreating his grace and mercy, and that he would again show him his face and favour.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 30:9-11) Nevertheless he who is thus chastened prayed fervently. The futures in Psa 30:9, standing as they do in the full flow of the narration, have the force of imperfects, of “the present in the past” as the Arabian grammarians call it. From the question “What profit is there (the usual expression for , quid lucri ) in my blood?”, it is not to be inferred that David was in danger of death by the hand of a foe; for in Psa 30:3 teaches us very different, “what profit would there be in my blood?” is therefore equivalent to (cf. Job 16:18) what advantage would there be in Thy slaying me before my time? On the contrary God would rob Himself of the praise, which the living one would render to Him, and would so gladly render. His request that his life may be prolonged was not, therefore, for the sake of worldly possessions and enjoyment, but for the glory of God. He feared death as being the end of the praise of God. For beyond the grave there will be no more psalms sung, Psa 6:6. In the Old Testament, Hades was as yet unvanquished, Heaven was not yet opened. In Heaven are the , but as yet no blessed .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
8. O Jehovah! I cried unto thee. Now follows the fruit of David’s chastisement. He had been previously sleeping profoundly, and fostering his indolence by forgetfulness; but being now awakened all on a sudden with fear and terror, he begins to cry to God. As the iron which has contracted rust cannot be put to any use until it be heated again in the fire, and beaten with the hammer, so in like manner, when carnal security has once got the mastery, no one can give himself cheerfully to prayer, until he has been softened by the cross, and thoroughly subdued. And this is the chief advantage of afflictions, that while they make us sensible of our wretchedness, they stimulate us again to supplicate the favor of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) I cried to thee.The very words of this utter agony of prayer are given. But it is better to keep the futures in Psa. 30:8, instead of translating them as preterites, and make the quotation begin here. So Symmachus, Then I said, I will cry to thee, O Lord, &c
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. I cried to thee See his prayer, 1Ch 21:17
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
His Prayer For Deliverance ( Psa 30:8-10 ).
Psa 30:8-10
I cried to you, O YHWH,
And to YHWH I made supplication,
What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it declare your truth?
Hear, O YHWH, and have mercy on me,
YHWH, be you my helper.
So the Psalmist’s cry reaches up to God. It is possible that we should see the initial verb as a historic present, making the picture vivid. ‘I am crying to you, O YHWH’. But the main point is that his plea is to YHWH.
In the depths of his illness his argument is simply that if he dies he will be able to praise YHWH no more. It is the prayer of someone very ill who has at this moment little time for theology. He is down to the basic practicalities. ‘In my blood’ simply means ‘in my death’. The point is that in the grave he will not be able to praise YHWH, nor will he be able to testify of Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 30:8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
Ver. 8. I cried to thee, O Lord, &c. ] For what reason? I felt myself, all that while that I was deserted, in a kind of hell above ground. Haec tentatio initium aliquod et gustus fuit illerum inenarrabilium dolorum quos impii sentiunt in omni aeternitate. David felt himself now in the suburbs of hell, as it were; and doth therefore set up as loud a cry after God as once Micah did after his idols, Jdg 18:24 , and far greater cause he had.
And unto the Lord I made supplication
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD*. One of the 134 places where “Jehovah” (in the primitive text) was altered to “Adonai”. See App-32. Some codices, with one early printed edition, read “Jehovah”. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 30:8-10
Psa 30:8-10
DAVID’S EARNEST SUPPLICATIONS
“I cried to thee, O Jehovah;
And unto Jehovah I made my supplication;
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
Hear, O Jehovah, and have mercy upon me;
Jehovah, be thou my helper.”
“What profit is there in my blood” (Psa 30:9). This means, “What benefit to God is there in my death?” Dummelow, and many others have commented on this to the effect that, “This verse shows how little the future life counted in Old Testament thought. We do not believe such comments are justified.
As Barnes said, “It must be admitted that the ancient saints knew much less about the hope of eternal life than Christians have in the New Testament, and that they sometimes spoke in such language as that which we have here, due to their despondency; but, upon other occasions they expressed their belief in a future state and their expectation of happiness in a coming world.
Abraham lifted the sacrificial knife against Isaac, “Accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead” (Heb 11:19); and many of the Old Testament saints suffered all kinds of hardships, even torture, “that they might obtain a better resurrection” (Heb 11:35). David himself gave us Psa 16:10; and there is no doubt at all that Psa 23:6 speaks of eternal life. Furthermore, Job gave us that soul-cheering line immortalized in Handel’s Messiah, “I know that my Redeemer liveth …. and that after death, I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26).”
We might add that expressions of Old Testament writers expressing such dread of death are still duplicated by the thoughts even of Christians facing the awful extremities of suffering and death.
“Shall the dust praise thee” (Psa 30:9)…In these verses, David shows that, “His prayer for God’s saving his life was not for the sake of worldly possessions and enjoyment, but for the praise and glory of God.
“David does not here speak of death in general, as if Old Testament saints had no hope beyond the grave, but of the kind of death where God hides his face in displeasure. For such a death, there is indeed no hope beyond the tomb.
“Have mercy upon me … be my helper” (Psa 30:10). Here we feel that David has thoroughly abandoned all over-confidence in himself and that he now relies solely upon the merciful approval of God. “One feels that at this point, the chastisements have fully accomplished their purpose, and that the psalmist is shaken completely out of his false feeling of `security.’
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 30:8. When David was discouraged over the pressure of troubles from the enemy, he prayed to God with the strongest form of petition which was supplication.
Psa 30:9. David believed that death would end all of his activities for the Lord. After he had gone down to the pit (grave) he could be of no further service. Therefore, if his enemies were suffered to take his blood it would be in vain as far as the cause of the Lord was concerned.
Psa 30:10. David was a normal man and wished to live for the sake of life itself. Yet we are pleased to learn that he also wished to live for the sake of what good he could do. In that way he was like Paul in Php 1:21-25. Since David needed to live in order to render this service, he prayed for God to be his merciful helper.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
unto: Psa 34:6, Psa 77:1, Psa 77:2, Psa 130:1, Psa 130:2, 1Co 12:8, 1Co 12:9, Phi 4:6, Phi 4:7
Reciprocal: Psa 66:17 – I cried Psa 107:19 – General Psa 116:4 – called Psa 120:1 – my distress
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
David had prayed for the Lord to be gracious to him. He had based his request on the fact that, if God allowed him to die, he would not be able to glorify the Lord with his public praises any longer. Consequently, David would not be able to honor God among His people. David based his petition on the glory of God, not on his own selfish desires (cf. Jas 4:2-3).