Psalms · psalm 130 of 150
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Psalm 130 is a song of ascents and a prayer of repentance. The psalmist cries to the Lord out of the depths, admits that no one could stand if God kept account of sins, and confesses that with him there is forgiveness. He waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning and calls Israel to hope in him, because with the Lord there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption.
Psalm 130 is the eleventh of the Songs of Ascents and one of the seven that Christian tradition calls penitential, together with Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102 and 143. It has long been read in times of repentance and grief. The title does not name an author, and the psalm moves from a personal prayer to an invitation to the whole community.
The psalm begins with a cry from the depths: out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. The depths can be the place of overwhelming waters, a picture of distress, here joined to a consciousness of guilt. The psalmist asks the Lord to hear his voice and to attend to his plea.
Verses 3 and 4 are the center of the psalm. If the Lord kept a record of sins, no one could stand. But with him there is forgiveness, so that he may be revered. Forgiveness does not make God light; it leads to a deeper reverence.
Verses 5 and 6 speak of waiting: the psalmist waits for the Lord, his soul waits and he hopes in his word. He waits more than watchmen for the morning, and he repeats it. Verses 7 and 8 extend the hope to the whole people: let Israel hope in the Lord, for with him there is steadfast love and plentiful redemption, and he will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Out of the depths the psalmist cries to the Lord and asks him to hear his voice. His prayer does not begin with a list of merits but with a cry from the bottom of need.
If the Lord kept a tally of sins no one could stand, but with him there is forgiveness so that he may be feared. God's forgiveness is the reason for reverence, not a license for sin.
The psalmist's soul waits for the Lord and hopes in his word, more than watchmen wait for the morning. It is an attentive waiting, sure that the dawn will come.
Israel is called to hope in the Lord, who has steadfast love and plentiful redemption and will redeem his people from all their iniquities. Personal hope becomes hope for everyone.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Out of the depths. — Psalm 130:1
Answer: No one could stand. — Psalm 130:3
Answer: Forgiveness, so that he may be revered. — Psalm 130:4
Answer: In the Lord and in his word. — Psalm 130:5
Answer: To watchmen waiting for the morning. — Psalm 130:6
Answer: From all its iniquities. — Psalm 130:8
Psalm 130 teaches us to come to God honestly from our depths, whether sin, grief or despair. We do not have to fix ourselves before praying. In a small group you can read the psalm in silence and leave a time to confess something to God, remembering that with him there is forgiveness.
It also invites us to wait. Sometimes the answer is slow, and the psalmist compares the wait to that of the watchman who knows the dawn will come. For Christians, plentiful redemption is centered on Christ, whose death forgives sins, as the New Testament says. Whoever has been forgiven can help others to hope in the Lord.
Psalm 130 ends with the promise that God will redeem Israel from all its iniquities. Psalm 131 answers with a prayer of stillness: a heart without pride, resting in the Lord like a weaned child in its mother's arms.
It is one of the seven prayers of the Christian tradition that express repentance and trust in God's forgiveness. In Psalm 130 the psalmist acknowledges that no one can stand before God on his own merits and leans on the Lord's forgiveness.
To fear the Lord here means to revere him. A person who has been forgiven is amazed at grace and responds with worship and obedience. It is the opposite of thinking that forgiveness allows sin without consequences.
Watchmen kept guard at night and waited for dawn, which ended their watch. They knew for certain that the morning would come. The picture expresses a waiting full of assurance, not doubt: the psalmist trusts that God will act.