Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 9:13
Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble [which I suffer] of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
13. Have mercy upon me ] Rather, Be gracious unto me. See note on Psa 4:1.
consider my trouble &c.] See the affliction which I suffer from them that hate me. Cp. Psa 10:14; Psa 31:7; Exo 3:7; Exo 3:9; Exo 4:31.
thou that liftest me up from the gates of death ] He had been brought down as it were to the very entrance of that mysterious place from which he knew of no possibility of return; to the gates which opened for entrance but not for exit. Cp. Psa 107:18; Job 38:17; Isa 38:10; Mat 16:18; and the Homeric ( Il. 9:646, &c.). How different the Christian view of “the grave and gate of death” as the passage to “a joyful resurrection!”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
13, 14. Stanza of Cheth. The connexion is difficult. The preceding and succeeding verses speak of deliverance granted, of victory won. Why then this abruptly introduced prayer for relief? To regard it as the ‘cry of the afflicted’ in their past distress seems inconsistent with the vigorous directness of the Psalm; and it is best to suppose that the recollection of dangers which still threaten prompts a prayer even in the moment of triumph. But it is possible that by a simple change in the vocalisation (Introd. p. lxvii) the verbs should be read as perfects instead of imperatives: ‘Jehovah hath been gracious unto me; he hath seen my affliction lifting me up &c.’ So the Greek version of Aquila; and so Jerome, according to the best reading ( misertus est mei vidit afflictionem meam).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Have mercy upon me, O Lord – The cry for mercy implies that though God had interposed and granted them surprising deliverances, yet he was still surrounded by enemies, and was still in trouble. See introduction to the psalm, 2, 3. He had been delivered from many troubles, but there were many still pressing upon him, and he now calls on God to interpose further in his behalf, and to grant him entire deliverance from all his sorrows and dangers. The trouble to which he here refers was of the same kind as that adverted to in the former part of the psalm – that arising from the efforts of formidable enemies.
Consider my trouble – Do not forget this trouble; bear it in remembrance; look upon its character and its depth, and mercifully interpose to deliver me.
Which I suffer of them that hate me – Or, see my suffering arising from those that hate me; or, which is produced by those who hate me. The design is to fix the attention on the greatness of that suffering as caused by his haters or by his enemies – the foes that were still unsubdued.
Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death – Thou on whom I rely to do this; or, who hast done it in times past. The idea by bars and walls; as entered by gates – the grave leading to it. See Introduction to Job, Section 7, and the notes at Job 10:21-22. The psalmist felt that he had come near to that dark and gloomy abode, and that God only could rescue him from it; therefore, in the trouble which now threatened his life, he looks to him to interfere and save him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 9:13-20
Consider my trouble.
A note of trouble in a triumph Psalm
The second part of the Psalm begins with Psa 9:13. The prayer in that verse is the only trace of trouble in the Psalm. The rest is triumph and exaltation. This, at first discordant, note has sorely exercised commentators; and the violent solution that the whole of the Cheth stanza (verses 13, 14) should be regarded as the cry of the meek, quoted by the Psalmist, and therefore be put in inverted commas (though adopted by Delitzsch and Cheyne), is artificial and cold. There is little difficulty in the connection. The victory has been completed over certain enemies, but there remain others; and the time for praise unmingled with petition has not yet come for the Psalmist, as it never comes for any of us in this life. Quatre Bras is won, but Waterloo has to be fought tomorrow. The prayer takes account of the dangers still threatening, but it only glances at these, and then once more turns to look with hope on the accomplished deliverance. The thought of how God had lifted the suppliant up from the very gates of death heartens him to pray for all further mercy needed. Death is the lord of a gloomy prison house, the gates of which open inwards only, and permit no egress. On its very threshold the Psalmist stood. But God had, lifted him thence,, and the remembrance wings his prayer. The gates of the daughter of Zion are in sharp, happy contrast with the frowning portals of death. A citys gates are the place of cheery life, stir, gossip, business. Anything proclaimed there flies far. There the Psalmist resolves that he will tell his story of rescue, which he believes was granted that it might be told. Gods end is the spread of His name, not for any good to Him, but because to know it is life to us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Have mercy upon me, O Lord] David, having laid down the preceding maxims, now claims his part in their truth. I also am in trouble through the unjust dealings of my enemies; I am brought to the gates of death; have mercy on me, and lift me up, that, being saved from the gates of death, I may show forth thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. The gates of death-an open grave, leading to a yawning hell. The gates of the daughter of Zion-all the ordinances of God, by which the soul is helped forward to heaven.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Consider my trouble, to wit, compassionately and effectually, so as to bring me out of it.
From the gates of death; from the brink or mouth of the grave, into which I was dropping, being as near death as a man is to the city that is come to the very gates of it. And so the phrase is used Psa 107:18; Isa 38:10, and in other authors of whom see my Latin Synopsis.
Gates elsewhere signify power and policy, because the gates of cities were places both of counsel and strength; but
the gates of death are never so taken in Scripture.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. gatesor, “regions.”
of deathGates beingthe entrance is put for the bounds.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Have mercy upon me, O Lord,…. The psalmist proceeds to petitions on his own account in this verse: the ends he proposes by the fulfilling of them are mentioned in the next. A good man, a man called by the grace of God, though he has obtained mercy of the Lord, yet still stands in need of more, of fresh discoveries of pardoning grace and mercy, of merciful supplies, of merciful support, and merciful deliverances from enemies, inward and outward: and such an one flees to God, and not to the creature; and pleads, not his own dignity, righteousness, or merit, but the mercy of God;
consider, my trouble [which I suffer] of them that hate me; or “see my affliction because of mine enemies” l; look upon me under it with an eye of pity and compassion, and help and deliver me; and look upon mine enemies that give me this trouble, and take vengeance on them;
thou that liftest me up from the gates of death; the house appointed for all living; that is, from the power of it, when just upon the brink of it; when near it, as a person is to an house, when he is at the gates of it; either through sickness, or some violent distemper of body, as Hezekiah was; or through some imminent danger in battle, as David was when engaged with Goliath; when everyone thought, as Kimchi observes, that he should fall by his hand: or it may be this may have respect to his being raised up from the death of sin, and delivered from the power of darkness; to his being brought out of the horrible pit and miry clay of an unregenerate state, and set upon the rock of salvation; which is a lifting up indeed, an exaltation from a very low to a very high estate: and this the psalmist takes notice of to encourage his faith; and makes use of it as an argument with God, that as he had dealt so graciously and bountifully with him, he would still show mercy to him, and look upon him under his affliction.
l “intuere afflictionem meum propter osores meos”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 9:14-15) To take this strophe as a prayer of David at the present time, is to destroy the unity and hymnic character of the Psalm, since that which is here put in the form of prayer appears in what has preceded and in what follows as something he has experienced. The strophe represents to us how the ( ) cried to Jahve before the deliverance now experienced. Instead of the form used everywhere else the resolved, and as it were tremulous, form is designedly chosen. According to a better attested reading it is ( Pathach with Gaja in the first syllable), which is regarded by Chajug and others as the imper. Piel, but more correctly (Ewald 251, c) as the imper. Kal from the intransitive imperative form . is the vocative, cf. Psa 17:7. The gates of death, i.e., the gates of the realm of the dead ( , Isa 38:10), are in the deep; he who is in peril of death is said to have sunk down to them; he who is snatched from peril of death is lifted up, so that they do not swallow him up and close behind him. The church, already very near to the gates of death, cried to the God who can snatch from death. Its final purpose in connection with such deliverance is that it may glorify God. The form is sing. with a plural suffix just like Eze 35:11, Ezr 9:15. The punctuists maintained (as in Isa 47:13 shows) the possibility of a plural inflexion of a collective singular. In antithesis to the gates of death, which are represented as beneath the ground, we have the gates of the daughter of Zion standing on high. is gen. appositionis (Ges. 116, 5). The daughter of Zion (Zion itself) is the church in its childlike, bride-like, and conjugal relation to Jahve. In the gates of the daughter of Zion is equivalent to: before all God’s people, Psa 116:14. For the gates are the places of public resort and business. At this period the Old Testament mind knew nothing of the songs of praise of the redeemed in heaven. On the other side of the grave is the silence of death. If the church desires to praise God, it must continue in life and not die.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
13. Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah. I think that this is the second part of the psalm. Others, however, are of a different opinion, and consider that David, according to his frequent practice, while giving thanks to God for the deliverance wrought for him, mingles with his thanksgiving an account of what had been the matter of his prayer in the extremity of his distress; and examples of the same kind, I confess, are every where to be met with in the Psalms. But when I consider all the circumstances more attentively, I am constrained to incline to the other opinion, namely, that in the commencement he celebrated the favors conferred upon him in order to make way for prayer; and the psalm is at last concluded with a prayer. He does not, therefore, in passing here insert the prayers which he had formerly made in the midst of his dangers and anxieties; but he purposely implores help from God at the present time, (178) and asks that He, whom he had often experienced as his deliverer, would continue the exercise of the same grace towards him. His enemies, perhaps, whom he had already vanquished on various occasions, having gathered new courage, and raised new forces, made a desperate effort, as we often see those who are driven to despair rush upon their enemies just with the greater impetuosity and rage. It is indeed certain, that David, when he offered this prayer, was seized with the greatest fear; for he would not, on account of a small matter, have called upon God to witness his affliction in the way he here does. It ought to be observed, that while he humbly betakes himself to the mercy of God, he bears, with a patient and submissive mind, the cross which was laid upon him. (179) But we ought chiefly to mark the title which he gives to God, calling him his lifter up from the gates of death; for we could not find a more appropriate expression than to lift up for the Hebrew word מרומם, meromem. By this the Psalmist, in the first place, strengthens his faith from his past experience, inasmuch as he had often been delivered from the greatest dangers. And, in the second place, he assures himself of deliverance, even in the very jaws of death; because God is accustomed not only to succor his servants, and to deliver them from their calamities by ordinary means, but also to bring them from the grave, even after all hope of life is cut off; for the gates of death is a metaphorical expression, denoting the utmost perils which threaten destruction, or rather, which lay the grave open before us. In order, therefore, that neither the weight of the calamities which we presently endure, nor the fear of those which we see impending over us, may overwhelm our faith, or interrupt our prayers, let us call to our remembrance that the office of lifting up his people from the gates of death is not ascribed to God in vain.
(178) “In the 12th verse,” says Horsley, “the Psalmist having mentioned it as a part of the divine character, that God forgetteth not the cry of the helpless, naturally thinks upon his own helpless state, and in the 13th and 14 verses cries for deliverance. The promise of the overthrow of the faction, which were the principal instruments of his affliction, recurring to his thoughts, he breaks out again in the 15 verse in strains of exultation.” The transition from the language of triumph, in the preceding part of the psalm, to the language of prayer and complaint in the 13th verse, and the mixture of triumph and complaint in the sequel of the psalm, are very remarkable. This was the natural effect of the Psalmist’s present distressed condition. The pressure of his affliction excited him, on the one hand, to utter the language of dejection; while his confident expectation of deliverance prompted him, on the other hand, to utter the language of triumph.
(179) “ Or il faut noter que quand il ya humblement au recours a la misericorde de Dieu, c’est signe qu’il portoit doucement et patienment, la croix que Dieu luy avoir comme raise sur les espaules.” — Fr. “But it ought to be observed, that, while he humbly betakes himself to the mercy of God, it is a sign that he bore, submissively and patiently, the cross which God had, as it were, laid upon his shoulders.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13, 14) It is natural to take these verses as the cry for help just mentioned.
Consider.Literally, see my suffering from my haters.
My lifter up from the gates of death.For the gates of sheol, see Note to Psa. 6:5. (Comp. Psa. 107:18, and the Homeric phrase the gates of Hades.) We might perhaps paraphrase from the verge of the grave, if it were not for the evident antithesis to gates of the daughter of Zion in the next verse. We understand, therefore, gates in sense of power, rule, the gate being the seat of the judge or king, and so, like our court, synonymous for his power. (Comp. Sublime Porte.)
Daughter of Zioni.e., Zion itself (see Isa. 37:22): a common personification of cities and their inhabitants. So of Edom (Lam. 4:21); of Babylon (Psa. 137:8, &c).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13, 14. Consider my trouble The tone of the psalm suddenly changes from that of triumphal joy to supplication. Such sudden transitions are not unfrequent in poetry of the earlier and ruder ages, but they are never without cause. In this case, assuming the occasion of the psalm to be as we have supposed, though an unparalleled victory had been gained, the causes of anxiety and apprehension had not been fully removed. The Ammonitish branch of the war, the centre of disaffection, still lingered heavily. 2 Samuel 10, and 2Sa 12:26-31. David’s kingdom had been brought to the brink of destruction, and the elements of war were kindling for a new explosion. This is set forth in Psa 9:13.
That I may show forth all thy praise The end sought was not his own aggrandizement, but the glory of God.
In the gates The gates were the chief places of concourse, and of courts of justice.
Daughter of Zion A poetic figure for the inhabitants, the people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Have mercy upon me, O YHWH;
Behold my affliction from those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death;
That I may show forth all your praise.
In the gates of the daughter of Zion,
I will rejoice in your salvation.’
Having declared the general position the psalmist now applies it to himself. He is going through great trouble, suffering at the hands of those who hate him, the unrighteous. He asks YHWH to behold his suffering and affliction. In view of Psa 9:3-4 it may be that we are to see these troubles as internal, enemies in the midst, for there are always enemies within as well as enemies without. But the following verses suggest a further outbreak of trouble from the surrounding nations.
However he is confident that these enemies too will be defeated. For it is YHWH Who shows mercy, it is YHWH Who raises him up when he feels that he is about to die. And he seeks that YHWH will do so now in order that he might show forth all the praises of YHWH, and rejoice in His deliverance. Let the gates of Zion be triumphant that he might rejoice there in His deliverance.
Note the contrast between the gates of death and the gates of the daughter of Zion. He wants to live in public triumph and joy in Jerusalem, with the unrighteous defeated, he does not want to die and go into the gloom of the grave. ‘The gates’ were the place where public affairs were carried on, where celebrations took place and where the representatives of the city were regularly to be found. And there in the gates of Jerusalem he will rejoice in God’s deliverance, and show forth all His praise. All will know of God’s goodness.
Others see these verses as looking back to Psa 9:3-4 and as indicating his cry to God then, which brought about the deliverance that he speaks of there, and that interpretation would also gain some support from Psa 9:15-16 which reiterate the defeat of the nations. But the psalm appears to be ongoing and this may rather be a reminder that once one crisis is past another may appear on the horizon, with God being triumphant over all, until at last in the end righteousness triumphs for ever.
‘Daughter of Zion.’ An expression only found here in the Psalms but taken up by the prophets later. Zion was the mountain, and her daughter the city built on the mountain, especially important because it was on the mountain which God had chosen. But as always a city also signifies its people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
It should seem as if this formed a second part of the Psalm, or rather a new one. Here we behold Christ again, as before represented in the days of his flesh, with strong crying, and tears. God the Father had promised that he should not fail nor be discouraged, until that he had set judgment in the earth; and therefore all along we find, in the strong cries of Christ, to this covenant engagement he had recourse. Hence, as in other places; I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mother’s belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. Psa 22:10-11 . Oh! how blessed it is to trace Christ in all these scriptures. Thanks be God, we may truly say here, as in a thousand other instances, for his unspeakable gift, in thus teaching us by his blessed Spirit the things concerning Jesus. 2Co 9:15 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 9:13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble [which I suffer] of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
Ver. 13. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, &c. ] These are the words (say some) of those humble ones whom God forgetteth not; they were God’s remembrancers, see Isa 62:6 : or it is a prayer of David for further deliverances, according to that, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,” Psa 18:3 . Between praising and praying he divided his time, and drove a holy trade between heaven and earth.
Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Have mercy = Be gracious, or favourable to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 9:13-14
Psa 9:13-14
“Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah;
Behold my affliction which I suffer of them that hate me,
Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;
That I may show forth all thy praise.
In the gates of the daughter of Zion
I will rejoice in thy salvation.”
This is an intensely personal petition from David, who in spite of great victories which God had given him, was nevertheless still a sufferer from the afflictions brought upon him by enemies who hated him. It is ever thus for the child of God. Whatever victories are won, there are always situations that call for the special blessing of heaven if the faithful are actually to receive the final and ultimate triumph of entering heaven itself.
“The gates of death.” Our Lord mentioned these in Mat 16:18. See our comment on that passage for opinions regarding what these gates are. Here they are contrasted with the gates of the daughter of Zion; and what a difference there is!
“The gates of death open for all men;
the gates of Zion open only for the saved.
The gates of death open regardless of our will;
the gates of Zion open only by our choice.
The gates of death are dark with terror;
the gates of Zion are bright with hope and joy.
Of course, the gates of the daughter of Zion here are a symbolical representation of the Lord’s Church as in Heb 12:22.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 9:13. David had been threatened with death more than once. God had saved him from it and so had lifted him up from the gates of death. But he still felt the need of the mercy of the Lord to help him in his many trials.
Psa 9:14. Daughter of Zion was a figurative name for Jerusalem. David wished to express his praise of God in the gates of his capital city.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Have: Psa 51:1, Psa 119:132
consider: Psa 13:3, Psa 25:19, Psa 119:153, Psa 142:6, Neh 9:32, Lam 1:9, Lam 1:11
thou: Psa 30:3, Psa 56:13, Psa 86:13, Psa 107:18, Psa 116:3, Psa 116:4, Isa 38:10, Joh 2:6
Reciprocal: Job 38:17 – the gates Psa 18:17 – them Psa 31:7 – for Psa 102:21 – General Psa 118:19 – I will go Psa 119:175 – Let my Isa 38:20 – therefore Mat 16:18 – and the Joh 5:14 – in the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 9:13-14. Consider my trouble Namely, compassionately and effectually, so as to bring me out of it; thou that liftest me up from the gates of death From the brink or mouth of the grave, into which I was dropping, being as near death as a man is to the city who is come to the very gates of it. That I may show forth thy praise in the gates In the great assemblies which were usually held in the gates of cities; of the daughter of Zion Of the people who live in, or belong to, or meet together in Zion. These gates of Zion he elegantly opposes to the gates of death, and declares, if he be brought off from the latter, he will go into the former. Cities, it must be observed, are, as it were, mothers to their people, and people are commonly called their daughters. So the daughters of Egypt, Jer 46:11; and of Edom, Lam 4:21; and of Tyre, Psa 45:12; are put for the people of those places. I will rejoice in thy salvation Namely, with spiritual joy and thanksgiving; else it would be no fit motive to be used to God in prayer.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2. Petition for present deliverance 9:13-20
Since God had proved faithful to uphold the afflicted righteous in the past, David called on Him to deliver him from his present evil enemies.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The psalmist appealed for God’s grace in defense from the attacks of those who hated him. God could save him from death. If He would do so, David promised to praise the Lord publicly among His people in Jerusalem. The "daughter of Zion" is a metaphor for the city of God (e.g., Isa 1:8; Isa 10:32) and the people of God (e.g., Mic 4:8).