Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 18:16

"He sent from on high, he took me; He drew me out of many waters." — Psalms 18:16 (ASV)

He drew me. — By an exquisite transition from the real to the figurative, the poet conceives of these parted waters as the floods of affliction (Psalms 18:5), from which Jehovah has rescued him by means of the very storm which was sent, in answer to his prayer, to overwhelm his enemies. Render, both more literally and forcefully, “He laid hold of me and drew me out of great waters.” The conception undoubtedly is that the “gates of death” are under these floods, and with these now parted, the sufferer can be reached and rescued.

Psalms 18:17–19 shows trifling variations between the two copies of the psalm.