Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 130:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 130:2. Lord, hear my voice — They could have no helper but God, and to him they earnestly seek for relief.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalm 129-131 Preparing for worship

Thinking back on the sorrows of Israel’s history, the travellers recall that ever since the days of the nation’s ‘youth’ in Egypt, Israel has had suffering. The backs of the people had been whipped when they were slaves, but God cut the cords that bound them in slavery and set them free (129:1-4). Now again they are troubled by those who hate them. They pray that God will turn back their enemies and make them as useless as stalks of grass that wither and die in the sun (5-7). Left without friends, their enemies will have no one to help them (8).
A sense of their own sinfulness overcomes the travellers as they approach the temple. They know that they need forgiveness, for no person in a sinful condition can stand before the holy God in his temple (130:1-4). They wait for the assurance of God’s forgiveness with the same longing as watch men on night duty wait for the light of dawn (5-6). But all the time they have a quiet confidence that God, in his love, will forgive them (7-8).
Realizing that they are forgiven, the grateful worshippers are now ready to enter God’s temple in holy worship. The importance of the occasion fills them with such a sense of awe that they are genuinely humbled before God. They confess that they cannot understand all about God and his ways, though at the same time they rest in the knowledge of his nearness and comfort (131:1-3).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Jehovah. Lord, hear my voice: Let thine ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.”

“Out of the depths” There are several kinds of “depths” from which one may cry to God, (1) the death of a loved one, (2) a terrible illness, (3) a life-threatening danger, (4) some devastating loss, or (4) a soul-chilling consciousness of one’s sinfulness. We believe that the latter is the “depths” spoken of here. There is no deeper pit than the black hole of despair which the soul experiences in the realization that one’s sins have separated him from God.

Maclaren wrote:

“The beginning of true personal religion is the sense of personal sin. An insufficient realization of that is the mother of heresies in the creeds and superficial deadness in the practice of Christianity.”Alexander Maclaren, op. cit., p. 136.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Lord, hear my voice - This is the prayer; this is what he cried. It is the language of earnest pleading.

Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications - Do not turn away from me; do not disregard my cry. See the notes at Psalms 5:1.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 130:1-8

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let your ears be attentive to the voice of my [prayers or] supplications. For if you, LORD, should start [making a list] marking iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that you may be reverenced. I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities ( Psalms 130:1-8 ).

So if the Lord should begin to keep an account of iniquities, none of us would make it. Oh, how thankful we are that with God there is mercy; there is forgiveness. Oh, how happy is the man whose sins are forgiven. "With the Lord there is mercy, and plenteous redemption." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. A desperate cry for mercy 130:1-2

The writer felt that he was at the very bottom of his resources, at the end of his rope (cf. Psalms 30:2-3; Psalms 71:20). This expression stresses the urgency of his request. The particular situation he faced is unknown, but in view of Psalms 130:8 it may have been oppression by an enemy.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 130

The poet uttered a cry for God to show mercy to His people, and he encouraged his fellow Israelites to wait for the Lord to deliver them. This is one of the penitential psalms, as well as an individual lament and a psalm of ascent.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Lord, hear my voice,.... His prayer, which was vocal: God is a God hearing prayer; sometimes his people think he does not hear them; but he always does, and in his own time answers; for to hear prayer with him is to answer it; which he does likewise in his own way as well as time; and not always in the way and at the time his people would have him;

let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications; his prayers put up in an humble suppliant manner, for grace and mercy; not pleading merit and righteousness: these he desires God would hearken to and hear, listen unto, bow and incline his ears, as he is sometimes said to do; which is a wonderful instance of his condescension.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

A song of degrees.

      1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD.   2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.   3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?   4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

      In these verses we are taught,

      I. Whatever condition we are in, though ever so deplorable, to continue calling upon God, Psalms 130:1; Psalms 130:1. The best men may sometimes be in the depths, in great trouble and affliction, and utterly at a loss what to do, in the depths of distress and almost in the depths of despair, the spirit low and dark, sinking and drooping, cast down and disquieted. But, in the greatest depths, it is our privilege that we may cry unto God and be heard. A prayer may reach the heights of heaven, though not out of the depths of hell, yet out of the depths of the greatest trouble we can be in in this world, Jeremiah's out of the dungeon, Daniel's out of the den, and Jonah's out of the fish's belly. It is our duty and interest to cry unto God, for that is the likeliest way both to prevent our sinking lower and to recover us out of the horrible pit and miry clay,Psalms 40:1; Psalms 40:2.

      II. While we continue calling upon God to assure ourselves of an answer of peace from him; for this is that which David in faith prays for (Psalms 130:2; Psalms 130:2): Lord, hear my voice, my complaint and prayer, and let thy ears be attentive to the voice both of my afflictions and of my supplications.

      III. We are taught to humble ourselves before the justice of God as guilty in his sight, and unable to answer him for one of a thousand of our offences (Psalms 130:3; Psalms 130:3): If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord! who shall stand? His calling God Lord twice, in so few words, Jah and Adonai, is very emphatic, and intimates a very awful sense of God's glorious majesty and a dread of his wrath. Let us learn here, 1. To acknowledge our iniquities, that we cannot justify ourselves before God, or plead Not guilty. There is that which is remarkable in our iniquities and is liable to be animadverted upon. 2. To own the power and justice of God, which are such that, if he were extreme to mark what we do amiss, there would be no hopes of coming off. His eye can discover enough in the best man to ground a condemnation upon; and, if he proceed against us, we have no way to help ourselves, we cannot stand, but shall certainly be cast. If God deal with us in strict justice, we are undone; if he make remarks upon our iniquities, he will find them to be many and great, greatly aggravated and very provoking; and then, if he should proceed accordingly, he would shut us out from all hope of his favour and shut us up under his wrath; and what could we do to help ourselves? We could not make our escape, nor resist not bear up under his avenging hand. 3. Let us admire God's patience and forbearance; we should be undone if he were to mark iniquities, and he knows it, and therefore bears with us. It is of his mercy that we are not consumed by his wrath.

      IV. We are taught to cast ourselves upon the pardoning mercy of God, and to comfort ourselves with that when we see ourselves obnoxious to his justice, Psalms 130:4; Psalms 130:4. Here is, 1. God's grace discovered, and pleaded with him, by a penitent sinner: But there is forgiveness with thee. It is our unspeakable comfort, in all our approaches to God, that there is forgiveness with him, for that is what we need. He has put himself into a capacity to pardon sin; he has declared himself gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive, Exodus 34:6; Exodus 34:7. He has promised to forgive the sins of those that do repent. Never any that dealt with him found him implacable, but easy to be entreated, and swift to show mercy. With us there is iniquity, and therefore it is well for us that with him there is forgiveness. There is a propitiation with thee, so some read it. Jesus Christ is the great propitiation, the ransom which God has found; he is ever with him, as advocate for us, and through him we hope to obtain forgiveness. 2. Our duty designed in that discovery, and inferred from it: "There is forgiveness with thee, not that thou mayest be made bold with and presumed upon, but that thou mayest be feared--in general, that thou mayest be worshipped and served by the children of men, who, being sinners, could have no dealings with God, if he were not a Master that could pass by a great many faults." But this encourages us to come into his service that we shall not be turned off for every misdemeanour; no, nor for any, if we truly repent. This does in a special manner invite those who have sinned to repent, and return to the fear of God, that he is gracious and merciful, and will receive them upon their repentance, Joel 2:13; Matthew 3:2. And, particularly, we are to have a holy awe and reverence of God's pardoning mercy (Hosea 3:5, They shall fear the Lord, and his goodness); and then we may expect the benefit of the forgiveness that is with God when we make it the object of our holy fear.