John Calvin Commentary Psalms 69:14

"Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters." — Psalms 69:14 (ASV)

Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink. The Psalmist repeats the same comparison which he had used before, but in a different manner. He had previously said that he was sunk in the mire, and now he prays that he may not sink in it. In short, he now prays that those things may not now happen to him which he had formerly complained of as having happened to him.

But it is very easy to reconcile this difference in statement. In the opening of the psalm, he spoke according to his actual feeling and experience; but now, looking to the outcome, although living in the midst of death, he cherishes the hope of deliverance.

This is expressed still more clearly in the last clause of the 15th verse, where he prays, Let not the pit close its mouth upon me; which is as if he said, Let not the great multitude and weight of my afflictions overwhelm me, and let not sorrow swallow me up.