Font Size
Psalm 30:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 30:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 30[a]
Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death
1 A psalm. A song for the dedication of the temple. Of David.
2 I will exalt you, O Lord,
for you have raised me out of the depths[b]
and have not let my enemies exult over me.
Footnotes
- Psalm 30:1 This is a psalm of thanksgiving arising out of the experience of someone who was at death’s door because of an illness, compounded by feelings of haughtiness in time of prosperity and despair in times of humiliation. The Lord listened to his cry and healed him; hence the psalmist calls for praise. This psalm came to be applied to Israel itself, especially in its experience of the Exile, and was chanted at the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple in commemoration of the purification of the temple in 164 B.C. (see Ezr 6:16; 1 Mac 4:36ff).
This psalm reminds us that while we await life eternal and union with Christ, the present life with its adversities offers us the opportunity to receive from the divine goodness a cure, various deliverances, and even spiritual resurrection. - Psalm 30:2 Out of the depths: a common Old Testament phrase of extreme distress (see Pss 69:3, 16; 71:20; 88:6; 130:1; Lam 3:55; Jon 2:2) usually connected with the words “the grave” and “the pit.”
