Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 107:10

"Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Being bound in affliction and iron," — Psalms 107:10 (ASV)

In darkness. —A common synonym for a dungeon. (Isaiah 49:9, both of the exiles in Babylon; compare Micah 7:8.)

This description, applicable to prisons in all ages but the most modern, was especially suitable for those of the ancients, who admitted no light at all; for example, the Mamertine prison at Rome. Compare Virgil, Æn. vi. 734:

“Neque auras
Dispiciunt clausæ tenebris et carcere cæco.”

In affliction and iron. —Both words are also found in Psalms 105:18, but distributed into the two clauses of the verse—hurt, iron. (Compare also Job 36:8, “bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction.”) The Septuagint and Vulgate have “in poverty and in iron.”