USB ~ Psalms 30

Thanksgiving for Deliverance

1 A psalm. A song for the dedication of the Temple.† Of David.

2 I praise you, LORD, for you raised me up and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

3 O LORD, my God, I cried out to you for help and you healed† me.

4 LORD, you brought my soul up from Sheol; you let me live, from going down to the pit.† a

5 Sing praise to the LORD, you faithful; give thanks to his holy memory.

6 For his anger lasts but a moment; his favor a lifetime. At dusk weeping comes for the night; but at dawn there is rejoicing.

III

7 Complacent,† I once said, “I shall never be shaken.”

8 LORD, you showed me favor, established for me mountains of virtue. But when you hid your face I was struck with terror. b

9 To you, LORD, I cried out; with the Lord I pleaded for mercy:

10 †“What gain is there from my lifeblood, from my going down to the grave? Does dust give you thanks or declare your faithfulness?

11 Hear, O LORD, have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper.”

12 You changed my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. c

13 So that my glory may praise you and not be silent. O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

Footnotes

†. Psalm 30 An individual thanksgiving in four parts: praise and thanks for deliverance and restoration (Ps 30:2-4); an invitation to others to join in (Ps 30:5-6); a flashback to the time before deliverance (Ps 30:7-11); a return to praise and thanks (Ps 30:12). Two sets of images recur: 1) going down, death, silence; 2) coming up, life, praising. God has delivered the psalmist from one state to the other.

†. 30:1 For the dedication of the Temple: a later adaptation of the Psalm to celebrate the purification of the Temple in 164 B.C. during the Maccabean Revolt.

†. 30:3 Healed: for God as healer, see also Ps 103:3; 107:20; Hos 6:1; 7:1; 11:3; 14:5.

†. 30:4 Sheol…pit: the shadowy underworld residence of the spirits of the dead, here a metaphor for near-death.

†. 30:7 Complacent: untroubled existence is often seen as a source of temptation to forget God, cf. Dt 8:10-18; Hos 13:6; Prv 30:9.

†. 30:10 In the stillness of Sheol no one gives you praise; let me live and be among your worshipers, cf. Ps 6:6; 88:11-13; 115:17; Is 38:18.

30:4 Ps 28:1; Jon 2:7.
30:8 Ps 104:29.
30:12 Is 61:3; Jer 31:13.