Charles Spurgeon

For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.

“For great is thy mercy toward me. Personal experience is ever the master singer. Whatever thou art to others, to me thy mercy is most notable. The psalmist claims to sing among the loudest, because his debt to divine mercy is among the greatest.”

The arrogant rise against me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, with no regard for You.

“O God, the proud are risen against me. They could not let God's poor servant alone, his walk with God was as smoke to their eyes, and therefore they determined to destroy him.”

But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.

“But thou, O Lord. What a contrast! We get away from the hectorings and blusterings of proud but puny men to the glory and goodness of the Lord.”

Turn to me and have mercy; grant Your strength to Your servant; save the son of Your maidservant.

“O turn unto me. As though the face of God had been before averted in anger, the suppliant pleads for a return of conscious favour. One turn of God's face will turn all our darkness into day.”

Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

“I WOULD have you note, beloved Friends, at the outset, how this man of God, in the hour of conflict, looks to his Divine Protector.”

Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

“Shew to me a token for good. Let me be assured of thy mercy by being delivered out of trouble. That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed. What bodes good to me shall make them quail and blush.”

He has founded His city on the holy mountains.

“His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Psalm begins abruptly, the poet's heart was full, and it gained vent on a sudden. Sudden passion is evil, but bursts of holy joy are most precious.”

“I will mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me— along with Philistia, Tyre, and Cush— when I say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”

“I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. This shall be a glorious subject to speak of concerning Zion, that her old foes are new born and have become her friends, worshipping in the temple of her God.”

The LORD will record in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.” Selah

“The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. At the great census which the Lord himself shall take, he will number the nations without exception and make an exact registry of them, whether they were by their…”

Singers and pipers will proclaim, “All my springs of joy are in You.”

“It does one good to think that there are such things in the world as springs bubbling up in the shady nooks. Places of sweet refreshment in this dusty earth.”

O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.

“O Lord God of my salvation. This is a hopeful title by which to address the Lord, and it has about it the only ray of comfortable light which shines throughout the Psalm.”

For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.

“For my soul is full of troubles. I am satiated and nauseated with them. Like a vessel full to the brim with vinegar, my heart is filled up with adversity till it can hold no more.”

I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.

“I am counted with them that go down into the pit. My weakness is so great that both by myself and others I am considered as good as dead.”

I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.

“Free among the dead. Unbound from all that links a man with life, familiar with death's door, a freeman of the city of the sepulchre, I seem no more one of earth's drudges, but begin to anticipate the rest of the tomb.”

You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.

“Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. What a collection of forcible metaphors, each one expressive of the utmost grief.”

Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

“Thy wrath lieth hard upon me. Dreadful plight this, the worst in which a man can be found. Wrath is heavy in itself; God's wrath is crushing beyond conception, and when that presses hard the soul is oppressed indeed.”

You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.

“Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me. If ever we need friends it is in the dreary hour of despondency and the weary time of bodily sickness; therefore does the sufferer complain because divine providence had removed his friends.”

My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.

“Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. He wept his eyes out. He exhausted the lachrymal glands, he wore away the sight itself. Tears in showers are a blessing, and work our good; but in floods they become destructive and injurious.”

Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah

“Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Wherefore then suffer me to die? While I live thou canst in me display the glories of thy grace, but when I have passed into the unknown land, how canst thou illustrate in me thy love?”

Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

“Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Thy tender goodness—who shall testify concerning it in that cold abode where the worm and corruption hold their riot? The living may indite "meditations among the Tombs", but the dead know nothing, and therefore can declare nothing.”

Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

“Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? If not here permitted to prove their goodness of Jehovah, how could the singer do so in the land of darkness and death shade?”

But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.

“But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; I have continued to pray for help to thee, O Jehovah, the living God, even though thou hast so long delayed to answer.”

Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?

“Lord, why castest thou oft my soul? Hast thou not aforetime chosen me, wilt thou now reject me? Shall thine elect ones become thy reprobates? Dost thou, like changeable men, give a writing of divorcement to those whom thy love has espoused?”

From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

“I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. His affliction had now lasted so long that he could hardly remember when it commenced; it seemed to him as if he had been at death's door ever since he was a child.”

Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

“Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. What an expression, "fierce wrath", and it is a man of God who feels it! Do we seek an explanation? It seemed so to him, but "tidings are not what they seem."”