1 I will praise you O LORD, for you have lifted me up and not let my enemies rejoice over me.

2 O LORD, my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.

3 O LORD, you have brought my soul up from the grave; you have kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.

4 Sing to the LORD, you who are saints, and give thanks as to His holiness.

5 For His anger is only for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may endure for the night, but in the morning there is joy.

6 But I said in my prosperity, "Never will I be moved – never!"

7 O LORD, by your favor, you have caused my mountain to stand strong. You hid your face, I was troubled.

8 To you O LORD I cried, and to you Lord I prayed.

9 What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you, will it proclaim truth?

10 Hear O LORD and have mercy upon me. O LORD, be my helper.

11 You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.

12 To the end may my heart sing praise to you without ceasing. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

1. BDB notes that the verb form ynIt;yLidi is figurative. What figure is involved, and what figure does it involve in the context? Just as one draws water out of a well deep into the earth, so God has also pulled this ailing person out of the depths of despair. The figure involved is hypocatastasis due to the implied comparison between drawing water out of a well and pulling a person out of the depths of despair. The NIV translation is good here in that it represents the common usage of the verb for "drawing" as in water from a well.
2. Evaluate BDB’s interpretation of the form ynIaeP;r]Tiw". Used seven other times in the book of Psalms, this term can be used either in the sense of being healed from physical sickness or from mental torment. In Psalm 60:2 it is used of the earth and its need of being restored from God’s wrath. In light of the context of Psalm 30 it appears this term is referring to the Psalmist’s physical sickness, his crying out to God, and as a result, his physical restoration.
3. The form (ydir]Y:mi) in verse 4 is unreadable because it combines two variant readings. The form is parsed as a Qal infinitive construct from dry with a 1cs suffix. It should be translated literally as "from my going down." The Kethiv reading is a Qal ptcp from the same root, but the preferable reading is the Qere parsed previously. The normal infinitive construct form occurs in verse 10, and an alternate form, as implied by Qere is unlikely. Furthermore, the Kethiv is more in line with the normal form of this formulaic expression, cf. Pss. 28:1; 143:7 (Word Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 1:251).
4. Discuss the significance of "evening" and "morning" in verse 6 (verse 5 in the English Bible). The "morning" is often a figure of speech used to denote a "bright joy after a night of distress" (BDB, 134). As in Psalm 46:5, attacks were usually launched at the break of day, but it is God’s help that comes in the morning after a night of danger (NIV Study Bible). In Psalm 30 the evening is the brief moment alluded to in the first line of verse 5 – a time of God’s anger. In the morning, however, during the time of bright joy when God leads His troops into battle, His favor lasts a lifetime as evidenced by verse 5, line two. This is synonymous parallelism where the second half of the verse parallels the first half of the verse. The symbolic significance, therefore, is that the evening is the time of brief distress, but it comes to an end. The morning, on the other hand, is the time of great joy when God brings all distress to an end.
5. In verse 7 the phrase z[o yrir]h'l] hT;d]m'[Ôh, (literally, "has caused me to stand my mountain strong") is translated in various ways in the English texts What range of meanings does BDB give for the verb in this stem (parsed: hiphil perfect, 2ms from dm[)? The Hiphil form has seven different meanings according to BDB: 1) station, set, 2) cause to stand firm, maintain, 3) cause to stand up, set up, erect, 4) present one before king, (in sanctuary), priest. 5) appoint; 6) have a fixed look. b. make to stand (in a covenant). c. restore waste places, i.e. make servant to. f. cause wind to arise. g. = raise an army. BDB appears to opt for the final option (g) as it appears the RSV, TEV, and GNB have: "By thy favor, O LORD, thou hadst established me as a strong mountain…" Here the Psalmist is being portrayed as a mighty warrior with a raised army and a secured fortress. Of course this interpretation means that some emendation is implied, namely, as the TNK has, a simile (i.e., "you made me as a mighty mountain"), or as a metaphor with the firm mountain being likened to the person. This is an emendation because the text does not explicitly teach this. The NAS, NIV, and REB appear to be interpreting the l on yrir]h'l as non-existent ("a mountain"), ignoring its presence, whereas the NRSV, TNK, and NJB interpret it as "as a mountain." By retaining the MT, as NAS, NIV, and REB have done, the interpretation is literal in the sense that the Psalmist is secure on a firm mountain, most likely a fortress of security. If it is taken as the NRSV does, then it is a simile for being made strong like a mountain or just a metaphor where a man restored is compared to a mountain.
6. BDB interprets the phrase ymid;B] ("in my blood") as simply "my blood." It falls under the definition of "innocent blood, i.e., blood shed with injustice and cruelty" (BDB, 196). As for rp;[; ("dust"), BDB interprets this as "earth of the grave" as a figure of speech for death. The figures involved here are both metaphors for death. Blood and dust are used synonymously as death in that blood from the grave can no more give praise to God than the dust it comes from.
7. Verse 12 (BHS), verse 11 (English) is highly figurative as evidenced by the phrase hj;m]ci ynIreZÒa'T]w" ("and girded me with gladness"). This is a figure of speech known as anthropopatheia (ascribing human characteristics to God). In this case it is God cutting sackcloth off Psalmist and "girding" him with gladness (Bullinger, 889). The motif here is praise and thanksgiving for what God has done in the Psalmist’s life (bringing his mourning into happiness). Up to this point in the Psalm there has been an account of God’s deliverance (vv. 1-5). In verses 6-10, however, the Psalmist speaks of his time in a near death experience so that he can tell again what God has done for him by restoring his life in verses 10-12. Verse 11 is an example of synonymous parallelism, but within each line there is antithetical ideas being expressed. In the first line mourning is contrasted with dancing; in the second line sackcloth is contrasted with gladness. Sackcloth in this context is a metaphor for mourning as expressed in line one while dancing is a hypocatastasis for gladness. The terms ydiP]s]mi ("my mourning") and yQic' ("my sackcloth") imply that the Psalmist was humbling himself before God, petitioning him for something (in this case it was his life he was petitioning for due to his being so near death). The verb in this line T;k]p'h; ("you have turned") is ascribed to God as a past act showing that He is the one who turned the mourning into dancing. This is the point of the Psalm in that God is being praised for what He has done.
8. BDB interprets the word d/bk; ("glory") in verse 12 as my honor, poetic of the seat of honor in the inner man, the noblest part of man (page 459). The figure involved here is metonymy. As Bullinger notes, "Here the word ‘glory’ may be put for the tongue which gives it: but the structure of the Psalm suggests another explanation of the metonymy. This verse corresponds, in structure with verse 4: ‘Sing to the Jehovah, O ye saints of His… So that verse 12 would be ‘To the end that Thy saints may sing praise to Thee’: ‘glory’ being put for the saints who give the glory’" (page 563). Kraus notes that d/bk has the meaning of "heart" (1:356) rather than tongue, but what comes off the tongue comes from the heart. BDB notes an emendation to d/bk so that it might be translated "my glory." This is noted in several English translations (NIV, KJV, ASV). It is highly likely that the vowels were just left out by mistake. The proposal is made in the apparatus of BHS to read the term as ydIbeK;. This term actually means "my liver." One option is "my heart" or "glory" while the other is "my liver." Both options denote the innards of a man, and this is in keeping with what the Psalmist is doing, namely, praising God from his inner being.
9. The integrity of the superscription has often been questioned because it appears to conflict with the contents of the psalm. The superscription literally reads, "A Song-Psalm at the dedication of the House, by David." The Psalm does not contain anything that must point to a dedication of a sanctuary, whether Mount Moriah, or the tabernacle, 2 Sam 6:17, but the place of the future Temple together with the altar then erected on it, can be called yhwh beeyt (House of God) and might also be called habayit, the Temple hill. One option says that this is David’s dedication of the Temple site following the plague on the people brought about by David’s census in 2 Samuel 24. Though there is no indication that David suffered physically from this, it is quite possible that David’s grief over the deaths of so many (seventy thousand people) might have caused him physical anguish and great sorrow to the point of death. David most likely loved these people as their king, and it could very well have affected him physically to know that so many had to die because of his sin, as evidenced by verses 1 and 3 of Psalm 30. Furthermore, this punishment followed David’s arrogant attitude as described in Psalm 30:6. It was God’s anger that brought about the plague on the people, and it is this very anger to which David refers to in verse 5. David felt strong and untouchable, but God showed him through this that He is ultimately in charge. David did not want his enemies to gloat over his failure so he chose God’s wrath instead, and following the three days of plague David erected an altar and praised the LORD as seen in Psalm 30:11-12. This appears to be the best option, but admittedly is not completely convincing.

Division into Parts:

Verse 1: General introduction and recognition of God

Verses 2-3: Description of God’s healing and preservation from an untimely death.

Verses 4-5: Praises to God for His deliverance from despair.

Verses 6-7: Reflections of prosperity and trouble brought about by God.

Verses 8-10: Petition to the LORD to be gracious and to restore life.

Verses 11-12: Thanks to the LORD for His restoration of life.

Message:

After reflecting on God’s goodness and restoration to life, David promotes praise of God for His wonderful mercy that goes on forever. He reflects on a very painful and emotional experience that brought him low and how he called on the LORD for deliverance, and then he praises God telling him of how he will be faithful to the end of his days as a result of God’s mercy on his life.

Structure:

Main Applicational Idea (Homiletical Proposition)… Reflect on what God has done in your life, and sing a song of praise to the LORD in recognition of His goodness.

1. An opening prayer of thanks for not allowing the enemies of God to gloat over David’s misfortune and for bringing his life out of the depths of despair (1-3).
1. There is exaltation of the LORD’s name for having lifted David up (1)
2. Following the LORD’s response to David’s call David is lifted up out of the depths of despair (2-3)
2. Though the LORD’s anger burns for a moment, David, as a faithful servant who praises the holy name of God, sings songs to the LORD because His favor lasts a lifetime (4-5).
3. The prosperous blessings of the LORD brought David confidence causing him to stand as an unmovable mountain, but the LORD hid His face from David causing him great dismay (6-7).
1. In prosperity David felt as if he could not be touched by anyone or anything (6).
2. God’s favor allows David prosperity, but by withdrawing that favor David suffers (7).
4. Going straight to the LORD in prayer, David cries out making his argument for his life by making the argument that in death He could not praise God, in the grave he could not lift His holy name (8-10).
1. Prayers are directed toward God by David asking why he must die when no praise can come from his lips while in the grave (8-9)
2. David directs his prayer to God and demands His grace (10).
5. Recognizing God’s faithfulness in his life and His positive response to his prayer, David praises God for restoring his life and allowing him to sing and give thanks to Him once again (11-12).
1. Without forgetting God following God’s response to David, he recognizes God for his restoration to life (11-12a).
2. In heartfelt thanks to God, David promises continual praises to God (12b).