69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!
Don’t let the deep swallow me up!
Don’t let the pit 1 devour me! 2
A song of ascents. 4
130:1 From the deep water 5 I cry out to you, O Lord.
1 tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).
2 tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”
3 sn Psalm 130. The psalmist, confident of the Lord’s forgiveness, cries out to the Lord for help in the midst of his suffering and urges Israel to do the same.
4 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
5 tn Heb “depths,” that is, deep waters (see Ps 69:2, 14; Isa 51:10), a metaphor for the life-threatening danger faced by the psalmist.