Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 30

Thou hast lifted me up. —The Hebrew word seems to mean to dangle, and therefore may be used either of letting down or drawing up. The cognate noun means bucket. It is used in Exodus 2:19, literally of drawing water from a well; in Proverbs 20:5, metaphorically of counsel. Here it is clearly metaphorical of restoration from sickness, and does not refer to the incident in Jeremiah’s life (Jeremiah 38:13), where quite a different word is used.

Grave. — Sheôl (See Note to Psalm 6:5).

That I should not go down to the pit. — This follows a reading which is considered by modern scholars ungrammatical. The ordinary reading, rightly kept by the Septuagint and Vulgate, means from these going down to the pit, i.e., from the dead. (Compare to Psalm 28:1.)

Sing unto ... —Better, Play to Jehovah, you saints of his. (See Note, Psalms 16:10.)

And give thanks. —Better, and sing praises to his holy name. (See margin.) Possibly Exodus 3:15 was in the poet’s mind. (Compare Psalms 97:12.)

For his anger. —Literally,

“For a moment (is) in his anger,
Life in his favour;
In the evening comes to lodge weeping,
But at morning a shout of joy.”

Some supply comes to lodge with the last clause, but the image is complete and finer without. It is thoroughly Eastern. Sorrow is the wayfarer who comes to the tent for a night’s lodging, but the metaphor of his taking his leave in the morning is not carried on, and we have instead the sudden waking with a cry of joy, sudden as the Eastern dawn, without twilight or preparation. Never was faith in the Divine love more beautifully expressed. .

And in. —Better, But as for me, in, etc. The pronoun is emphatic. The mental struggle through which the psalmist had won his way to this sublime faith is now told in the most vivid manner, the very soliloquy being recalled.

Prosperity. —Better, security.

I shall never be moved. —Better, I shall never waver.