to approach (causatively · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
soul
נַפְשִׁ֣יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
redeem
גְאָלָ֑הּge.'a.Lah
H1350
to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relati… · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
deliver
פְּדֵֽנִיpe.De.ni
H6299
to sever · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
enemies
אֹיְבַ֣י'o.ye.Vai
H341
hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psalms 22:19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Psalms 111:9 He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
Psalms 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
Deuteronomy 32:27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our h…
Joshua 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: an…
Job 6:23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
Psalms 10:1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 69:13-21
David had been speaking before of the spiteful reproaches which his enemies cast upon him; here he adds, But, as for me, my prayer is unto thee. They spoke ill of him for his fasting and praying, and for that he was made the song of the drunkards; but, notwithstanding that, he resolves to continue praying. Note, Though we may be jeered for well-doing, we must never be jeered out of it. Those can bear but little for God, and their confessing his name before men, that cannot bear a scoff and a hard word rather than quit their duty. David's enemies were very abusive to him, but this was his comfort, that he had a God to go to, with whom he would lodge his cause. "They think to carry their cause…
These earnest terms are often used, and the address to God, as indifferent or averse, is found in Psa 3:7; Psa 22:24; Psa 27:9, &c.
John Gill on Psalms 69:18
Draw nigh unto my soul,.... God his father, while he was suffering, stood afar off from him; wherefore he desires that he would draw nigh to him in the manifestations of his love and favour to him; which he did, when he made known to him the way of life, and made him full of joy with his countenance;
and redeem it: that is, from the power of the grave; not leave it there, but raise him from the dead, and give him glory, as he did;
deliver me, because of mine enemies; that they might not triumph over him, as if, being dead, he should rise no more; and so the Targum,
"that mine enemies might not lift up themselves against me.''
Or the meaning is, deliver me from the grave, raise me from th…
Psalm 69:14-18
14. Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink: let me be delivered from my adversaries, and from the deep waters. 15. Let not the flood of waters overflow me; and let not the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit [82] close its mouth upon me. 16. Answer me, O Jehovah! for thy mercy [83] is good: in the multitude of thy compassions [84] look upon me. 17. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hasten! answer me! 18. Draw near to my soul, redeem it; deliver me, on account of my enemies.
14. Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink. The Psalmist repeats the same similitude which he had used before, but in a different manner. He had previously sai…
The Church Fathers
"Give heed to my soul, and redeem her," does need no exposition: let us see therefore what follows. "Because of mine enemies deliver me" [Psalm 69:18]. This petition is evidently wonderful, neither briefly to be touched upon, nor hastily to be skipped over; truly wonderful: "Because of mine enemies deliver me." What is, "Because of mine enemies deliver me"?...I see no reason for this petition, "Because of mine enemies deliver me:" unless we understand it of something else, which when I shall have spoken by the help of the Lord, He shall judge in you, that dwells in you. There is a kind of secret deliverance of holy men: this for their own sakes is made. There is one public and evident: this is made because of their enemies, either for their punishment, or for their deliverance. For truly God delivered not the brothers in the book of Maccabees from the fires of the persecutor. [2 Maccabbees vii] ...But again the Three Children openly were delivered from the furnace of fire; [Daniel 3:26] because their body also was rescued, their safety was public. The former were in secret crowned, the latter openly delivered: all however saved....There is then a secret deliverance, there is an open deliverance. Secret deliverance does belong to the soul, open deliverance to the body as well. For in secret the soul is delivered, openly the body. Again, if so it be, in this Psalm the voice of the Lord let us acknowledge: to the secret deliverance does belong that whereof he spoke above, "Give heed to my soul, and redeem her." There remains the body's deliverance: for on His arising and ascending into the Heavens, and sending the Holy Ghost from above, there were converted to His faith they that at His death did rage, and out of enemies they were made friends through His grace, not through their righteousness. Therefore he has continued, "Because of mine enemies deliver me. Give heed to my soul," but this in secret: but "because of mine enemies deliver" even my body. For mine enemies it will profit nothing if soul alone You shall have delivered; that they have done something, that they have accomplished something, they will believe. "What profit is there in my blood, while I go down into corruption?" Therefore "give heed to my soul, and redeem her," which You alone know: secondly also, "because of mine enemies deliver me," that my flesh may not see corruption.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Gall — (1) Heb. mererah, meaning “bitterness” (Job 16:13); i.e., the bile secreted in the liver. This word is also used of the poison of asps (20:14), and of the vitals, the seat of life (25). (2.) Heb.…
Gin — A trap. (1.) Ps. 140:5, 141:9, Amos 3:5, the Hebrew word used, mokesh, means a noose or “snare,” as it is elsewhere rendered (Ps. 18:5; Prov. 13:14, etc.). (2.) Job 18:9, Isa. 8:14, Heb. pah, a plate…
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Shoshannim — Lilies, the name of some musical instrument, probably like a lily in shape (Ps. 45; 69, title). Some think that an instrument of six strings is meant.
Persecution · OF JESUS — OF JESUS
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
In this second part the petition by which the first is as it were encircled, is continued; the peril grows greater the longer it lasts, and with it the importunity of the cry for help. The figure of sinking in the mire or mud and in the depths of the pit (בּאר, Ps 55:24, cf. בור, Psa 40:3) is again taken up, and so studiously wrought out, that the impression forces itself upon one that the poet is here describing something that has really taken place. The combination "from those who hate me and from the depths of the waters" shows that "the depths of the waters" is not a merely rhetorical figure; and the form of the prayer: let not the pit (the well-pit or covered tank) close (תּאטּר with Da…
The psalmist’s only recourse is to pray for rescue and relief from his enemies.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 69:18
Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
Draw nigh unto my soul. The near approach of God is all the sufferer needs; one smile of heaven will still the rage of hell. And redeem it. It shall be redemption to me if thou wilt appear to comfort me. This is a deeply spiritual prayer, and one very suitable for a deserted soul. It is in renewed communion that we shall find redemption realized. Deliver me because of mine enemies, lest they should, in their vaunting, blaspheme thy name, and boast that thou art not able to rescue those who put their trust in thee. Jesus, in condescending to use such supplications, fulfils the request of his disciples: "Lord, teach us…
