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« A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. » Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.

A Prayer of the afflicted — Or, for the afflicted, made by Daniel, or some other prophet, not long before the return out of Babylon, where they suffered much but prayed little, as Daniel confesseth, Daniel 9:13 . Here, therefore, they are taught to take unto them words, and say, "Hear my prayer, O Lord," … In greatest afflictions there is place left for prayer, Psalms 130:1 , and something God will yield to it, when most bitterly bent against a people, Matthew 24:20-21 .

When he is overwhelmed — Pressed out of measure above strength, 2 Corinthians 1:8 , ad deliquium animae, till heart faint and faith seem to fail, bowing down through weight of grief, ac si pars una corporis alia esset operta; for so the word here used signifieth, saith Kimchi, as if one part of the body were overcovered with another. Estque pulchra collatio in verbis gnataph et shaphac, quae naturam fidei depingunt, saith Mollerus; faith may be under a cloud for a season, but it will recover, and pour out its complaint before the Lord.

Hear my prayer, O Lord — O Lord Christ, for so this psalm is to be understood, as the apostle showeth, Hebrews 1:6

And let my cry — Which is, that thou wouldest be pleased to bring us poor exiles back to our own country; and so this prayer is answerable to that of Daniel 9:1-27

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Hide not thy face from me in the day [when] I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day [when] I call answer me speedily.

Hide not thy face from me — For this would be worse than all the rest. See Jeremiah 16:13 , "I will cast you out of this land, and I will show you no favour." This last was a cutting speech, and far worse than their captivity; and yet,

Answer me speedily — Festina, responde. In our earnest prayers we may press for expedition in general, not tying God to any particular time, as those Bethulians did in the Book of Judith.

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For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

For my days are consumed like smoke — Which the higher it mounteth the sooner it vanisheth. Some read it, in the smoke. So Psalms 119:83 , "I am become like a bottle in the smoke," dried and withered, exsuccus et exsanguis.

And my bones are burnt as an hearth — Ossa mea quasi frixa contabuerunt. My strength is gone, Veluti sartagines (Arab.). Here, to the twelfth verse, is a most lively picture of a dejected person, such as can hardly be paralleled; teaching us to be deeply affected with the Church’s afflictions.

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My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

My heart is smitten — Blasted with thine indignation, that ventus urens et exsiccans.

So that I forget to eat my bread — I am stomachless, through want of that heat that my heart should supply.

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By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

By reason of the voice of my groaning — A broken spirit drieth the bones, Proverbs 17:22 , and, by drinking up the marrow and radical moisture, casteth all into a consumption.

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I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

I am like a pelican — Or bittern, which liveth in lonely places, and crieth out dolefully, Isaiah 34:11 Zephaniah 2:14 .

I am like an owl in the desert — Avis lucifuga, a night bird, a night raven, the Vulgate hath it; others, a bat, a cuckoo, but mostly an owl, that noctis monstrum, as Pliny, lib. 10, cap. 12, speaketh of her, nec cantu aliquo vocales sed gemitu, hated of all other fowls, which never come near her, but to keep a wondering at her.

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I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

I watch — I can as little sleep as eat, Psalms 102:4 . That nurse of nature, and sweet parenthesis of men’s griefs and cares, sleep, departeth from me,

And am as a sparrow — That hath lost his mate, so have I mine associates, which is a sore loss, for optimum solatium sodalitium.

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Mine enemies reproach me all the day; [and] they that are mad against me are sworn against me.

Mine enemies reproach me all the day — This is an evil that man’s nature is most impatient with. See Psal. cxxxvii.

And they that are mad against me — That let fly at me, or that once praised me, flattered me. So the Sept.

Are sworn against me — Have sworn my death, or do swear and curse by me, as the Turks do at this day, when, to confirm a truth, they say, Iudaeus sim si fallam, I would I were a Jew, it is so. See Zechariah 8:13 Isaiah 6:11-13 Jeremiah 29:22 . God make thee as Ahab, and as Zedekiah, …

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