The sorrows of hell compassed me about
Or "the cords of the grave" F19, under the power of which he
was detained for awhile; the allusion may be to the manner of
burying among the Jews, who wound up their dead bodies in linen
clothes; so that they were as persons bound hand and foot; and
thus were they laid in the grave; see ( John 11:44 ) ; and so
was Christ, till he was raised from the dead, when he showed
himself to have the keys of hell and death, and to be no more
under their power, or be held by them;
the snares of death prevented me;
or "met" or "got before me" F20 the sense is, he was taken
in them: this phrase designs the insidious ways and methods which
the enemies of Christ took to ensnare him, and take away his
life, and in which they succeeded; see ( Matthew 26:4
) .