The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
Parallel translations
- WEB The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
- BSB The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
- NKJV The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.
- NASB The ropes of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.
- NLT The grave wrapped its ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The cords of the grave entangled David and the snares of death confronted him. It matters because it shows the seriousness of the threat God overcame.
Overview
David continues the imagery of being trapped by the bonds of Sheol and ensnared by death. He stands on the brink, unable to free himself. The God who rescued David from such snares is the same God who, in Christ, broke the power of death for all who believe.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 86:13For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
- Ps 88:3–8For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
- Acts 2:24Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
- Ps 88:15–17I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
- Eccl 9:12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
- Ps 116:3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 18:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.