7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may celebrate thy name. The righteous shall surround me, because thou dealest bountifully with me.
I will sing unto Jehovah, for he hath dealt bountifully with me.
Who executeth judgment for the oppressed, who giveth bread to the hungry. Jehovah looseth the prisoners;
GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant [and] I shall live; and I will keep thy word.
Behold, we call them blessed who have endured. Ye have heard of the endurance of Job, and seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is full of tender compassion and pitiful.
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah hath anointed me to announce glad tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound;
{An instruction of David; when he was in the cave: a prayer.} I cry unto Jehovah with my voice: with my voice unto Jehovah do I make supplication.
Arise, Jehovah, in thine anger; lift thyself up against the raging of mine oppressors, and awake for me: thou hast commanded judgment. And the assembly of the peoples shall encompass thee; and for their sakes return thou on high.
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee.
I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength: Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. Thy fury lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted [me] with all thy waves. Selah. Thou hast put my familiar friends far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
My soul shall make its boast in Jehovah: the meek shall hear, and rejoice.
Save me from the lion's mouth. Yea, from the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me. I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and revere him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him: but when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise is from thee, in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise Jehovah that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before thee:
That I may declare all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will be joyful in thy salvation.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 142
Commentary on Psalms 142 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 142
This psalm is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterwards penned in this form. Here is,
Those that are troubled in mind, body, or estate, may, in singing this psalm (if they sing it in some measure with David's spirit), both warrant his complaints and fetch in his comforts.
Maschil of David. A prayer when he was in the cave.
Psa 142:1-3
Whether it was in the cave of Adullam, or that of Engedi, that David prayed this prayer, is not material; it is plain that he was in distress. It was a great disgrace to so great a soldier, so great a courtier, to be put to such shifts for his own safety, and a great terror to be so hotly pursued and every moment in expectation of death; yet then he had such a presence of mind as to pray this prayer, and, wherever he was, still had his religion about him. Prayers and tears were his weapons, and, when he durst not stretch forth his hands against his prince, he lifted them up to his God. There is no cave so deep, so dark, but we may out of it send up our prayers, and our souls in prayer, to God. He calls this prayer Maschil-a psalm of instruction, because of the good lessons he had himself learnt in the cave, learnt on his knees, which he desired to teach others. In these verses observe,
Psa 142:4-7
The psalmist here tells us, for our instruction,