A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning—
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lordthere is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
8 And He shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
Although the psalmist doesn’t state what circumstances (“depths”) he faces, the use of the words “iniquities,” “forgiveness,” “mercy,” and “redemption” seem to indicate it was brought about by his own (or the nation’s) sins.
The name of “Lord” (either “Jehovah,” “Jah,” or “Adonai”) occurs as many times as there are verses. — Meyer, page 157.
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The depths out of which the psalmist cries out to the LORD are not physical depths, but rather the inward “depths” of emotional and psychological distress, in this case specifically as a result of his iniquities (of which the outward consequences undoubtedly added to his sense of distress). By affirming his own iniquity, not just as the psalmist, but also as God’s prophet, the writer is implying that no one is free from in iniquity (as also affirmed in, e.g., Psalm 49:7-8, Ecclesiastes 7:20; Acts 3:23) — which truth he explicitly applies to Israel in the last section of this psalm (vs. 7-8). The dilemma is presented by the rhetorical question in v.3: No one could stand (i.e., maintain his justification/exoneration from culpability) before God if He marked (lit, “preserved” — i.e., held irrevocably and unforgivingly against one) his iniquities—for God is perfectly good (i.e., holy and sinless) and all people are bad (i.e., unholy and sinful). — Wechsler, pages 310-311.
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The central, for final, purpose of God’s attribute of forgiveness (as of any other attribute) is that He might be worshiped (as opposed to that final purpose being the forgiveness of man: thus also in Psalm 79:9: “Deliver us and forgive our sins for Thy name’s sake”). It is the personal experience of this divine forgiveness that underlies the psalmist’s affirmation, “I wait for the LORD … and in His word I do hope” — by which he means not that he is waiting for the Lord to forgive him, for the consistent testimony of Scripture is that God’s forgiveness is immediately available to the one who seeks it (cf. 2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 86:5; Isaiah 6:5-7; 1 John 1:9), but rather that, because he is forgiven, he is waiting with full confidence that He who began a good work in him (by forgiving him) will one day perfect it (Philippians 1:6) by raising him up imperishable. — Wechsler, pages 311-312.
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