Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 9:13-14

"Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah; Behold my affliction [which I suffer] of them that hate me, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death; That I may show forth all thy praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion I will rejoice in thy salvation." — Psalms 9:13-14 (ASV)

It is natural to take these verses as the cry for help just mentioned.

Consider. —Literally, see my suffering from my haters.

My lifter up from the gates of death. —For the gates of sheol, see Note to Psalms 6:5. (Compare to Psalms 107:18, and the Homeric phrase “the gates of Hades.”)

We might perhaps paraphrase this as “from the verge of the grave,” if it were not for the evident antithesis to “gates of the daughter of Zion” in the next verse. We understand, therefore, “gates” in the sense of “power,” “rule,” since the gate was the seat of the judge or king, and so, like our “court,” became synonymous with his power. (Compare to Sublime Porte.)

Daughter of Zion — i.e., Zion itself : a common personification of cities and their inhabitants. So of Edom (Lamentations 4:21); of Babylon (Psalms 137:8, etc.).