m and
meaning of the phrase.

No comment can heighten, and no translation can adequately represent,
while none can altogether destroy the unapproachable magnificence of the
description which follows, of the majestic coming forth of God in answer
to his cry. It stands at the very highest point, even when compared with
the other sublime passages of a like kind in Scripture. How
pathetically he paints his sore need in metaphors which again bring to
mind the songs of the outlaw:--

The snares of death compassed me,
And floods of destruction made me afraid;
The snares of Sheol surrounded me,
The toils of death surprised me.

As he so often likened himself to some wild creature in the nets, so
here Death, the hunter, has cast his fatal cords about him, and they are
ready suddenly to close on the unsuspecting prey. Or, varying the image,
he is sinking in black waters, which are designated by a difficult
phrase (literally, "streams of Belial," or worthlessness), which is most
probably rendered as above (so Ewald, Hupfeld). In this dire extremity
one thing alone is left him. He is snared, but he has his voice free to
cry with, and a God to cry to. He is all but sinking, but he can still
shriek (so one of the words might be rendered) "like some strong swimmer
in his agony." And it is enough. That one loud call for help rises, like
some slender pillar of incense-smoke, straight into the palace temple of
God--and, as he says, with a meaning which our version obscures, "My cry
before Him came into His ears." The prayer that springs from a living
consciousness of being in God's presence, even when nearest to
perishing, is the prayer that He hears. The cry is a poor, thin,
solitary voice, unheard on earth, though shrill enough to rise to
heaven; the answer shakes creation. One man in his extremity can put in
motion all the magnificence of God. Overwhelming is the contrast between
the cause and the effect. And marvellous as the greatness, so also is
the swiftness of the answer. A moment suffices--and then! Even whilst he
cries, the rocking earth and the quivering foundations of the hills are
conscious that the Lord comes from afar for his help. The majestic
self-revelation of God as the deliverer has for its occasion the
psalmist's cry of distress, and for its issue, "He drew me out of many
waters." All the splendour flames out because a poor man prays, and all
the upheaval of earth and the artillery of heaven has simply th