Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 130:1

"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Jehovah." — Psalms 130:1 (ASV)

Out of the depths - The word translated “depths” is from a verb - עמק ‛âmaq - which means to be deep, then to be unsearchable, and then to make deep. It would apply to anything low, deep, or profound, such as the ocean, a pit, or a valley.

This word occurs elsewhere only in the following places: (Psalms 69:2) and (Psalms 69:14), where it is translated “deep” (applied to waters); and (Isaiah 51:10) and (Ezekiel 27:34), where it is translated “depths.”

As used here, the word would be applicable to deep affliction, dejection, or distress. For instance, it applies to:

• To affliction - the depths of sorrow from loss of friends, property, or bodily suffering.
• To sin - the depths into which the soul is plunged under the consciousness of guilt.
• To mental trouble - low spirits, melancholy, darkness of mind, loss of comfort in religion, powerful temptation, disappointment, the anguish caused by ingratitude, or sadness of heart in view of the crimes and sorrows of people, or grief at the coldness, the hardness, and insensibility of our friends to their spiritual condition.

From all these depths of sorrow it is our privilege to call upon the Lord; in those depths of sorrow it is proper thus to implore His help. Often He brings us into these “depths” that we may be led to call upon Him; always when we are brought there, we should call upon Him.

Have I cried to You, O Lord - Or rather, “do I now invoke You,” or call earnestly upon You. The language does not refer so much to the past as to the present. I now cry for mercy; I now implore Your blessing. The condition is that of one who, in deep sorrow or under deep conviction for sin, pleads earnestly that God would have compassion on him.