Psalm 130
8 verses · KJVPsalms book hub →
Psalms 130:1-2
Out of the depths have I cried unto thee: The Hebrew title, which this page's text does not show, reads A Song of degrees, one of the fifteen ascent psalms and, by the church's traditional count, the sixth of the seven penitential psalms alongside 6, 32, 38, 51, 102 and 143. The depths are named without further description, the cry itself the only detail given, and the plea moves at once from crying to being heard: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. Spurgeon reads the depths as the psalmist's own sense of sin rather than any outward trouble, the lowest place a soul can occupy before God.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 130:1, in their own words.
Psalms 130:1
“And it is wonderful, considering that whilst we enjoy peace and prosperity we are cold in prayer, because then our hearts are in a state of infatuated security, how in adversities, which ought to quicken us, we are still more stupefied.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Psalms 130:1
“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. This is the Psalmist's statement and plea: he had never ceased to pray even when brought into the lowest state. The depths usually silence all they engulf, but they could not close the mouth of this servant of the Lord; on the contrary, it was in the abyss itself that he cried unto Jehovah. Beneath the floods prayer lived and struggled; yea, above the roar of the billows rose the cry of faith.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Psalms 130:2, in their own words.
Psalms 130:2
“Lord, hear my voice. It is all we ask; but nothing less will content us. If the Lord will but hear us we will leave it to his superior wisdom to decide whether he will answer us or no. It is better for our prayer to be heard than answered.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 130:3-4
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities: The psalm turns on a question no one can answer in his own favor: if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Every mouth is stopped before it is opened. The bench lingers on the reversal that follows: but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared, forgiveness named as the very thing that produces fear of God rather than removing it, since a God who forgives is a God worth fearing in a way strict accounting never was. Henry and Barnes both read this as the psalm's center, mercy the ground of reverence rather than its opposite.
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 130:3, in their own words.
Psalms 130:3
“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,.... Or "observe" (f) them. Not but that God does observe the sins of men: he sees all the evil actions of bad men done in the dark, which cannot hide them from him; and all the iniquities of good men, so as to correct and chastise for them, but not with his eye of vindictive justice.”
Psalms 130:3
“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand. If Jah, the all seeing, should in strict justice call every man to account for every want of conformity to righteousness, where would any one of us be? Truly, he does record all our transgressions; but as yet he does not act upon the record, but lays it aside till another day. If men were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer for himself at the Lord's bar, and hope to stand clear and accepted?”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 130:3
“His calling God Lord twice, in so few words, Jah and Adonai, is very emphatic, and intimates a very awful sense of God's glorious majesty and a dread of his wrath. To acknowledge our iniquities, that we cannot justify ourselves before God, or plead Not guilty. There is that which is remarkable in our iniquities and is liable to be animadverted upon.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 4What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 130:4, in their own words.
Psalms 130:4
“But there is forgiveness with thee,.... And with God only; not with angels, nor any of the sons of men; and which flows from his grace and mercy, through the blood of his Son. It appears to be with him by his promise of it in covenant; by appointing his Son to shed his blood for it, and exalting him as a Saviour to give it; by proclaiming it in the Gospel; and by the numerous instances of it, both under the Old and under the New Testament.”
Psalms 130:4
“But there is forgiveness with thee. Blessed but. Free, full, sovereign pardon is in the hand of the great King: it is his prerogative to forgive, and he delights to exercise it. Because his nature is mercy, and because he has provided a sacrifice for sin, therefore forgiveness is with him for all that come to him confessing their sins. The power of pardon is permanently resident with God: he has forgiveness ready to his hand at this instant. "That thou mayest be feared." This is the fruitful root of piety.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 130:4
“Forgiveness - Thou art able and ready to forgive repenting sinners. Feared - Not with a slavish, but with a childlike fear. This mercy of thine is the foundation of all religion, without which men would desperately proceed in their impious courses.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Psalms 130:4
“God's grace discovered, and pleaded with him, by a penitent sinner: But there is forgiveness with thee. It is our unspeakable comfort, in all our approaches to God, that there is forgiveness with him, for that is what we need. He has put himself into a capacity to pardon sin; he has declared himself gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive, Exod. xxxiv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Psalms 130:5-6
in his word do I hope: Having named forgiveness, the psalm does not rush to feel forgiven; it waits, I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope, the double waiting held together with hope in what God has said rather than in a felt assurance. The comparison is repeated for emphasis in the next verse, my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, I say, more than they that watch for the morning, a repetition the older writers take from a watchman's own long night, certain the sun will rise but not yet able to see it. Gill notes the watchman figure fits both a soldier on guard and a priest waiting to end a night's duty at the temple.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 130:5, in their own words.
Psalms 130:5
“I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait. Expecting him to come to me in love, I quietly wait for his appearing; I wait upon him in service, and for him in faith. For God I wait and for him only: if he will manifest himself I shall have nothing more to wait for; but until he shall appear for my help I must wait on, hoping even in the depths. This waiting of mine is no mere formal act, my very soul is in it, —"my soul doth wait." I wait and I wait—mark the repetition!”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 130:5-6
“The degree of that dependence--" more than those that watch for the morning, who are, (1.) Well-assured that the morning will come; and so am I that God will return in mercy to me, according to his promise; for God's covenant is more firm than the ordinances of day and night, for they shall come to an end, but that is everlasting." (2.) Very desirous that it would come.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Psalms 130:6, in their own words.
Psalms 130:6
“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. Men who guard a city, and women who wait by the sick, long for daylight. Worshippers tarrying for the morning sacrifice, the kindling of the incense and the lighting of the lamps, mingle fervent prayers with their holy vigils, and pine for the hour when the lamb shall smoke upon the altar. David, however, waited more than these, waited longer, waited more longingly, waited more expectantly.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 130:7-8
Let Israel hope in the Lord: The psalm closes by handing its private lesson to the whole nation: let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption, the same forgiveness of verse 4 now named redemption and offered in abundance rather than in bare sufficiency. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities closes the psalm where it opened, the depths of verse 1 answered by a redemption that reaches every iniquity without exception. Delitzsch reads the final widening from one soul to the nation as typical of the ascent psalms, a private cry becoming the pilgrim congregation's own prayer by the time the climb to Jerusalem is finished.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Psalms 130:7, in their own words.
Psalms 130:7
“Let Israel hope in the Lord. Or, "Hope thou, Israel, in Jehovah." Jehovah is Israel's God; therefore, let Israel hope in him. What one Israelite does he wishes all Israel to do. That man has a just right to exhort others who is himself setting the example. Israel of old waited upon Jehovah and wrestled all the night long, and at last he went his way succoured by the Hope of Israel: the like shall happen to all his seed. God has great things in store for his people, they ought to have large expectations.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 130:8, in their own words.
Psalms 130:8
“And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The Lord shall do it; in whom Israel is encouraged to hope; with whom grace and redemption were; or who was appointed to be the Redeemer.”
Psalms 130:8
“And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Our iniquities are our worst dangers: if saved from these, we are saved altogether; but there is no salvation from them except by redemption. What a blessing that this is here promised in terms which remove it out of the region of question: the Lord shall certainly redeem his believing people from all their sins. Well may the redemption be plenteous since it concerns all Israel and all iniquities!”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Where the chapter sits
Psalms 130 falls in Book V: Hallel and Hallelujah (chapters 107–150). Songs of Ascents (120–134); Hallel (113–118); Great Hallel (136); Torah-praise acrostic Ps 119; fivefold Hallelujah doxology (146–150) as the Psalter's close.
Before it: Book IV: YHWH reigns, chapters 90–106.
The whole shape of Psalms→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh4 times, as יְהוָֽה׃, יְ֭הוָה, יְה֫וָה | LORD | 1, 5, 7 |
| אֲדֹנָיʼĂdônây3 times, as אֲדֹנָי֮, אֲ֝דֹנָ֗י, לַֽאדֹנָ֑י | Lord | 2, 3, 6 |
| שָׁמַרshâmar3 times, as תִּשְׁמָר־, מִשֹּׁמְרִ֥ים, שֹׁמְרִ֥ים | to keep | 3, 6 |
| קוֹלqôwl2 times, as בְק֫וֹלִ֥י, לְ֝ק֗וֹל | voice | 2 |
| עָוֺןʻâvôn2 times, as עֲוֹנ֥וֹת, עֲוֹנֹתָֽיו׃ | iniquity | 3, 8 |
| קָוָהqâvâh2 times, as קִוִּ֣יתִי, קִוְּתָ֣ה | to await | 5 |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Psalms 1192 verses
Psalms 130:5
Psalms 119:81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.Psalms 130:6
Psalms 119:147I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.- Read Psalms 119 →
Hebrews 51 verse
Psalms 130:1
Hebrews 5:7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;- Read Hebrews 5 →
Psalms 421 verse
Psalms 130:1
Psalms 42:7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.- Read Psalms 42 →
Jonah 21 verse
Psalms 130:1
Jonah 2:2And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.- Read Jonah 2 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- 2 Chronicles 61 verse
- Isaiah 371 verse
- Nehemiah 11 verse
- Psalms 1431 verse
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
Featured studies
Pages of this site that take up something in this chapter. Each one opens on its own.
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 130The history
The depths in the first line are deep water, the standard Old Testament image for being overwhelmed by something you cannot stand up in. Israelites were not swimmers, and the sea was the edge of chaos to them.
The question at the center is bookkeeping. If God kept a record of wrongs, the word is the one used for a ledger of debts, nobody could stand up under the audit. Standing was the posture of a servant found acceptable and of a defendant acquitted.
The waiting is measured by the night watch. The night was divided into set watches, and men stood guard in rotation until dawn. At the temple, priests and Levites kept watch through the night, and the day's first sacrifice could not begin until an appointed man on the roof called out that light had reached the eastern sky. Those watchmen wanted morning more than anyone in the city.
The psalm says it twice, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning, because repeating a line was how a singer leaned on it.
What it meant to them
Pilgrims were coming to a sanctuary where sin was dealt with by blood. This psalm makes them say what they were bringing before they got there.
Its hinge is a strange sentence: there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be feared. Israel's God was not feared because he punished everything but because he pardoned, and being pardoned by someone who could have done otherwise puts a person in awe.
Sources cited
- The Mishnah, tractate Tamid (Danby translation)
- Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David on Psalm 130
Connections
Where this chapter reaches into the rest of Scripture, with the verse each connection stands on.
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 130. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Charles Spurgeon; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Calvin, Commentaries (1554); John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765) and Matthew Henry.