John Calvin Commentary Psalms 119:81

"My soul fainteth for thy salvation; [But] I hope in thy word." — Psalms 119:81 (ASV)

My soul hath fainted for thy salvation. The Psalmist suggests that, although worn out with continual grief and perceiving no end to his calamities, yet trouble and weariness had not produced such a discouraging effect on his mind as to prevent him from always resting with confidence in God.

To bring out the meaning more distinctly, we must begin with the second clause, which is obviously added as an explanation. There he affirms that he trusts in God, and this is the foundation of all. But, intending to express the invincible constancy of his trust, he tells us that he patiently endured all the distresses under which others succumb.

We see some embracing God's promises with great eagerness; but their ardor soon vanishes, or at least, is quenched by adversity. It was far different with David. The verb kalah, which means to faint, or to be consumed, indeed seems, at first sight, to convey a different meaning.

But the prophet, in this passage, as in other places, by fainting means that patience, which those who are deprived of all strength and who seem to be already dead continue to cherish, and which inspires their hearts with secret groanings that cannot be uttered. This fainting, then, is opposed to the delicacy of those who cannot suffer a long delay.