Psalms 18:5

“The sorrows of hell compassed me about, etc.] Or “the cords of the grave” f265, under the power of which he was detained for awhile; the allusion may be to the manner of burying among the Jews, who wound up their dead bodies in linen clothes; so that they were as persons bound hand and foot; and thus were they laid in the grave; (see <431144>John 11:44); and so was Christ, till he was raised from the dead, when he showed himself to have the keys of hell and death, and to be no more under their power, or be held by them; the snares of death prevented me; or “met” or “got before me” f266 the sense is, he was taken in them: this phrase designs the insidious ways and methods which the enemies of…”

“death--and hell (compare Psa 16:10) are personified as man's great enemies (compare Rev 20:13-14). prevented--encountered me, crossed my path, and endangered my safety. He does not mean he was in their power.”

“The sorrows of hell - Margin, “cords.” The word used here is the same which occurs in the previous verse, and which is there rendered “sorrows.” It is correctly translated here, as in that verse, “sorrows,” though the parallelism would seem to favor the interpretation in the margin - cords. If it means “sorrows,” the idea is, that such sufferings encompassed him, or seized upon him, as we associate in idea with the descent to the under-world, or the going down to the dead. If it means “cords, or bands,” then the idea is, that he was seized with pain as if with cords thrown around him, and that were dragging him down to the abodes of the dead. Luther, DeWette, Prof. Alexander, Hengstenberg,…”

“Sorrows - Which brought me to the brink of the grave. Death - Had almost taken hold of me, before I was aware. Psalms 18:6”

“The sorrows: or, cords, Psa 86:13, Psa 88:3-8, Psa 88:15-17; Act 2:24 snares: Ecc 9:12 Psalms 18:6”