John Calvin Commentary Psalms 142:5

"I cried unto thee, O Jehovah; I said, Thou art my refuge, My portion in the land of the living." — Psalms 142:5 (ASV)

I cried unto thee, O Jehovah! To hasten God’s intervention, David complains of the low state to which he was reduced, and of his extreme distress; the term “cry” denoting vehemence, as I have noted elsewhere. He speaks of deliverance as being plainly needed, since he was now held a prisoner.

By prison, some suppose he alludes to the cave where he was lodged, but this meaning is too restricted. The subsequent clause, the righteous shall compass me, is translated differently by some as they shall wait me. I have retained the true and natural sense. I grant that it is taken figuratively to mean surrounding, intimating that he would be a spectacle to all, the eyes of men being attracted by such a singular case of deliverance.

If any consider the words not to be figurative, the sense will be that the righteous would not only congratulate him but also place a crown upon his head as a token of victory. Some explain the passage: They will assemble to congratulate me and will stand around me on every side like a crown.

As the words literally read, they will crown upon me, some supply another pronoun and give this sense: that the righteous would construe the mercy bestowed upon David as a glory conferred upon themselves. For when God delivers any of His children, He holds out the prospect of deliverance to the rest and, as it were, gifts them with a crown.

The sense which I have adopted is the simplest, however: that the mercy vouchsafed would be shown conspicuously to all as in a theater, proving a signal example to the righteous for the establishment of their faith. The verb גמל, gamal, in Hebrew, is of a more general signification than to repay and means to confer a benefit, as I have shown elsewhere.