For if I live, unless I determine to bring stumbling upon me, that I may rather choose to bear the great load of my grief,

(13)–Rather,if I live, it were better for me to bear the great mass of grief that overwhelms me, unless I determine to throw myself over some precipice (the metaphor is identical with that of 2Samuel 17:23 ).

But God will deliver me from the grave.–Better, Yet He shall descend into Hades (see Psalm 139:8; Isaiah 7:11), from whence no release shall be refused to me. Here, as in Psalm 49:14-15, we trace the rise of the hope of a resurrection implicit rather than expressed.

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For if I live, I will see the goodness of the Lord,…. Live with any degree of comfort and enjoyment; but such was the affliction of the psalmist, that he concluded it would be very dangerous to him to live; he had no share in the divine goodness any other way than by looking to it; for it could not be enjoyed while he was living under present afflicted circumstances; and if he should live, it would only increase his afflictions, so that he was in doubt which it would be best for him to choose, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan express it,”I shall live, and I shall not live: shall it not be better for me that I should die, unless I say, I will cast myself down (t);”to avoid any further trouble:unless I determine to make mine heaviness heavier; to increase it, or make it a double grief; through fretting and murmuring at the evils and afflictions he was under, and secret murmurings in his heart, against the Lord; which, if he should give way to, he knew would greatly add to his misery and distress:but God shall deliver me out of the Labor of the waters; out of the mighty deep, so the Targum; out of the depths amidst which he was distressed, and of the great waters which had gone over him, and which threatened to overwhelm him; See Gill on Psalm 69:1 and out of the snare of death, which lay in his way, and was ready to seize upon him; or which was like a net cast for him, when in this distress he was almost ready to think of death by his own hands, to prevent worse evils; and this also God would deliver him from, by bringing him out of his low estate. Some by the waters here understand affliction or temptation, and so render the whole thus,”for I will live to enjoy the grace and loving kindness of the Lord; and shall not need to increase my temptations, for God will deliver me out of the labour of temptation, and out of the snare of death;”see Gill on Psalm 42:7 however, these waters seem chiefly to design the temporal ones, the sorrows of life; and the resurrection from the dead may be included in the deliverance here spoken of, which will be attended with an everlasting deliverance.(t) Vid. Kimchi in loc.68:19-23 God gives deliverance in the worst times. The psalmist shows his assurance of the accomplishment of deliverance. Christ triumphed over all the powers of darkness, which rose like great waters to overwhelm him; and his resurrection was the finishing that great salvation which he wrought for us. His ascension was the perfecting of his triumph. Thus the believer rejoices in the prospect of salvation, and in communion with his Redeemer. Hell was as a great deep, ready to swallow up Christ, that by his dying for us, he might break the power of it over us; but God remembered him in his low estate. If God be for us, who can be against us? Let us hold fast the faith, lay firm hold upon the hope, and having done all, let us stand firm in the strength of the Lord our God.Alphabetical: a better But choose death deliver Die God great heaviness heavier his I if in live make may me mine my no Of or rather refuse see – than the will Yet