Psalm 130:5

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) I wait.—The Hebrew expresses, I have been waiting, and still wait. Mark the earnestness in the repetition, I wait, my soul waits.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 130:5. I wait for the Lord — That he would manifest his favour to me in the pardon of my sins, and thereby give me relief and comfort. My soul doth wait — I wait for him in sincerity, and not in profession only; with fervency, and not in a spirit of lukewarmness and indifference. And in his word do I hope — Wherein he hath declared his merciful nature, Exodus 34:6-7, and his gracious purpose and promises for the pardoning of sinners.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

130:5-8 It is for the Lord that my soul waits, for the gifts of his grace, and the working of his power. We must hope for that only which he has promised in his word. Like those who wish to see the dawn, being very desirous that light would come long before day; but still more earnestly does a good man long for the tokens of God's favour, and the visits of his grace. Let all that devote themselves to the Lord, cheerfully stay themselves on him. This redemption is redemption from all sin. Jesus Christ saves his people from their sins, both from the condemning and from the commanding power of sin. It is plenteous redemption; there is an all-sufficient fulness in the Redeemer, enough for all, enough for each; therefore enough for me, says the believer. Redemption from sin includes redemption from all other evils, therefore it is a plenteous redemption, through the atoning blood of Jesus, who shall redeem his people from all their sins. All that wait on God for mercy and grace, are sure to have peace.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I wait for the Lord - That is, in this state of distress and trouble - from these "depths" of woe, and sorrow, and conviction of sin. This implies two things:

(1) that he had no other dependence;

(2) that his soul was actually in a waiting posture, or that he actually looked to the Lord for his interposition.

My soul doth wait - I wait, with all my soul and heart.

And in his word do I hope - In his promise. I believe that he will fulfill that promise, and that I shall find a gracious answer to my prayers. Under conviction for sin, under deep sorrow and distress of any kind, this is the only hope of man. If God does not interpose, there is no deliverer; that he will interpose we may feel assured, if we come to him with a humble, a believing, and a penitent heart.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5, 6. wait for the Lord—in expectation (Ps 27:14).

watch for, &c.—in earnestness and anxiety.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I wait for the Lord, that he would manifest his favour to me in the pardon of my sins.

In his word; wherein he hath declared his merciful nature, Exodus 34:6,7, and his gracious purpose and promises for the pardoning of sinners.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I wait for the Lord,.... For his gracious presence and the light of his countenance, being in darkness, as well as in the deep; for his salvation and deliverance out of the depths of distress; for an answer of prayer, having cried unto him for application of pardoning grace he had some view and hopes of; and for the performance of promises the Lord had made to him; and for eternal glory and happiness: all which are to be patiently and quietly waited for, God having his set time to do them; and may be confidently expected, since he is gracious and merciful, wise and powerful, faithful and immutable. David might also be waiting for the coming of Christ, as all the Old Testament saints did; through whom all the above are enjoyed;

my soul doth wait; which shows that this was not mere bodily service or waiting upon God and for him in an external way; but expresses the intenseness of his mind, the earnest desires of his heart after God, his affection for him, and the exercise of all other graces on him; his whole soul, and all the powers of it, were engaged in this work;

and in his word do I:hope: both in his essential Word the Messiah, who was the Hope of Israel as well as the Saviour of them; the object, ground, and foundation of hope, of all blessings, of grace and of glory: and in his word of promise concerning the coming of Christ, and salvation by him; concerning the pardon of sin through him, and eternal life by him; as well as in many other special and particular promises made to David, concerning himself, his family, and his kingdom. Arama and Kimchi interpret it of the promise of deliverance from captivity made to the Jews.

Geneva Study Bible

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. I wait … my soul doth wait … do I hope] The perfect tense of the original denotes what long has been, as well as what still is, the attitude of the Psalmist’s mind.

in his word] Of promise (Psalm 119:74; Psalm 119:81) to pardon and deliver: e.g. such prophecies as those in Jeremiah 31:31-34; Jeremiah 33:8; &c.

5–8. In this confidence that Jehovah is a God of forgiveness the Psalmist can wait with patience and hope, and bid Israel wait, for the redemption that will surely come.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait. "Waiting for the Lord" is patiently bearing our affliction, whatever it may be, and confidently looking forward to deliverance from it in God's good time. The expression, "my soul doth wait," is stronger than "I wait;" it implies heart-felt trust and confidence. And in his word do I hope; i.e. his word of promise. Psalm 130:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Therefore the sinner need not, therefore too the poet will not, despair. He hopes in Jahve (acc. obj. as in Psalm 25:5, Psalm 25:21; Psalm 40:2), his soul hopes; hoping in and waiting upon God is the mood of his inmost and of his whole being. He waits upon God's word, the word of His salvation (Psalm 119:81), which, if it penetrates into the soul and cleaves there, calms all unrest, and by the appropriated consolation of forgiveness transforms and enlightens for it everything in it and outside of it. His soul is לאדני, i.e., stedfastly and continually directed towards Him; as Chr. A. Crusius when on his death-bed, with hands and eyes uplifted to heaven, joyfully exclaimed: "My soul is full of the mercy of Jesus Christ. My whole soul is towards God." The meaning of לאדני becomes at once clear in itself from Psalm 143:6, and is defined moreover, without supplying שׁמרת (Hitzig), according to the following לבּקר. Towards the Lord he is expectantly turned, like those who in the night-time wait for the morning. The repetition of the expression "those who watch for the morning" (cf. Isaiah 21:11) gives the impression of protracted, painful waiting. The wrath, in the sphere of which the poet now finds himself, is a nightly darkness, out of which he wishes to be removed into the sunny realm of love (Malachi 4:2); not he alone, however, but at the same time all Israel, whose need is the same, and for whom therefore believing waiting is likewise the way to salvation. With Jahve, and with Him exclusively, with Him, however, also in all its fulness, is החסד (contrary to Psalm 62:13, without any pausal change in accordance with the varying of the segolates), the mercy, which removes the guilt of sin and its consequences, and puts freedom, peace, and joy into the heart. And plenteous (הרבּה, an adverbial infin. absol., used here, as in Ezekiel 21:20, as an adjective) is with Him redemption; i.e., He possesses in the richest measure the willingness, the power, and the wisdom, which are needed to procure redemption, which rises up as a wall of partition (Exodus 8:19) between destruction and those imperilled. To Him, therefore, must the individual, if he will obtain mercy, to Him must His people, look up hopingly; and this hope directed to Him shall not be put to shame: He, in the fulness of the might of His free grace (Isaiah 43:25), will redeem Israel from all its iniquities, by forgiving them and removing their unhappy inward and outward consequences. With this promise (cf. Psalm 25:22) the poet comforts himself. He means complete and final redemption, above all, in the genuinely New Testament manner, spiritual redemption.