In my distress I cried to the LORD, and he heard me.
In my distress I cried to the LORD, and he heard me.
In my distress I cried unto Jehovah, And he answered me.
<A Song of the going up.> In my trouble my cry went up to the Lord, and he gave me an answer.
A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried to the LORD, and he heard me.
In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me.
A Song of Ascents. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he answered me.
In my distress - Through the causes afterwards mentioned.
I cried unto the Lord - Made strong supplication for help.
And he heard one - Answered my prayer by comforting my soul.
It appears to be a prayer of the captives in Babylon for complete liberty; or perhaps he recites the prayer the Israelites had made previously to their restoration.
In my distress - In my suffering, as arising from slander, Psalm 120:2-3. There are few forms of suffering more keen than those caused by slander:
"Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This viperous slander enters."
Cymbeline, iii.4.
It is one of those things which a man cannot guard against; which he cannot repel by force; whose origin he cannot always trace; which will go where a vindication will not follow; whose effects will live long after the slander is refuted; which will adhere to a man, or leave a trait of suspicion, even after the most successful vindication, for the effect will be to make a second slander more easily credited than the first was.
I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me - I had no other resource. I could not meet the slander. I could not refute it. I could not prevent its effects on my reputation, and all that I could do was to commit the case to the Lord. See the notes at Psalm 37:5-6.