Psalm 31:9

9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are wasted with grief, I am wasted in soul and body.

Psalm 31:9 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 31:9

Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble
A sudden change of case and frame this! and so it is with the people of God; as soon as, out of one trouble, they are in another; these are what are appointed for them, and lie in their pathway to heaven, and are necessary; and under them it is quite right to betake themselves to the Lord, who is a merciful God; and it is best to cast themselves upon his mercy, having no merit of their own to plead with him; and they may freely tell him all their distresses, as the psalmist here does, and hope for grace and mercy to help them in time of need;

mine eye, is consumed with grief;
expressed by tears; through the multitude of which, by reason of trouble, his sight was greatly harmed; according to Jarchi, the word signifies, that his sight was so dim as is a man's when he puts a glass before his eyes, to see what is beyond the glass: this shows that the invention of spectacles was before the year 1105; for in that year Jarchi died; and proves it more early than any other writer has pretended to ^F1; for the commonly received opinion is, that they were invented at the latter end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century; but the apostle, as A-Lapide thinks, respects them, in ( 1 Corinthians 13:12 ) ; and they are mentioned by Plautus {b}, who lived almost two hundred years before the birth of Christ: the same Jarchi observes on ( Psalms 6:7 ) ;

[yea], my soul and my belly;
perhaps he could not eat his food, or digest it, which brought upon him internal disorders, and even brought his soul or life into danger.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 See Chambers's Dictionary on the word "Spectacles".
F2 Vid. Ainsworth's Lat. Dict. in voce "Conspicill". & Panciroll. Rer. Memorab. par. 2. tit. 15. & Salmath. in ib. p. 268.

Psalm 31:9 In-Context

7 I will be glad and have delight in your mercy; because you have seen my trouble; you have had pity on my soul in its sorrows;

8 And you have not given me into the hand of my hater; you have put my feet in a wide place.

9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; my eyes are wasted with grief, I am wasted in soul and body.

10 My life goes on in sorrow, and my years in weeping; my strength is almost gone because of my sin, and my bones are wasted away.

11 Because of all those who are against me, I have become a word of shame to my neighbours; a cause of shaking the head and a fear to my friends: those who saw me in the street went in flight from me.