John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:154

"Plead thou my cause, and redeem me: Quicken me according to thy word." — Psalms 119:154 (ASV)

Debate your cause, and redeem me. In this verse, David specifies the nature of his affliction, which was the wrongful and harassing treatment he experienced from evil and unprincipled men. The literal reading is, Plead my cause. This means to undertake a cause, to take charge of defending someone in judgment, or to maintain the right of the oppressed.

In the first place, the Prophet, in invoking God to defend his cause, shows that he is wrongfully oppressed (whether by violence, slander, or crafty policies); and, in seeking to be redeemed, he intimates that he was unable to offer any resistance or was so entangled in their snares that he had no hope left except in God's deliverance.

In the second clause, the letter ל , lamed, seems to be taken for the letter כ , caph, the mark of similarity, as would appear from his having used a similar form of prayer a little earlier (Psalms 119:149). Again, since David here complains that he is held, as it were, in fetters by his enemies unless he is delivered by the hand of his Redeemer, he with good reason implores God to restore him to life, for he who is thus abased is like a person dead.

It is also aptly added, according to your word; for it is from the promises God makes in his word to be our deliverer that the hope of life shines upon us. Therefore, the Prophet, when earnestly desiring to be brought from darkness to light, sustains and encourages himself by the word.

If a different sense is preferred, then David is not to be understood as simply asking that life may be given to him, but as praying for spiritual life, so that he may be encouraged to exercise faith, cultivate the fear of God, and cherish the desire of living a holy life.