Psalms 18:4-5

4, 5. In these verses he gives a rapid retrospect of the collective years of his persecutions by Saul, his wars, and his exposures. He surveys them with a glance without detail.

Sorrows of death Better, cords of death.

“Cords,” here, is not the same word as snares, (Psalms 18:5,) but means the bond, or leash, by which a captive or victim was held or led, as illustrated in 1 Kings 20:31, and note on Psalms 116:3, which see.

Floods of ungodly men Hebrew, floods or torrents of Belial: that is, floods of worthlessness, but, in the concrete, floods of worthless or wicked men. These, like a mad mountain torrent, threatened to sweep him away. It is doubtful whether בליעל , ( Belial,) is ever used in the Old Testament as a proper name. It occurs, however, as such once in the New Testament (which shows the Hebrew usage at that time, 2 Corinthians 6:15) for Satan, just as evil, with the masculine article, ( ο πονηρος ,) means “the Evil One,” (see Matthew 13:19, et al., and Satan, Psalms 109:6.)

Sorrows of hell Literally, cords of sheol, the latter here used for the grave, and the phrase corresponding to “cords of death” in preceding verse. On sheol, see on Psalms 16:10.

Snares of death Death is here personified, and compared to an arch hunter spreading his snares. The word snare is different from cord in preceding verse, and denotes the spring, or trapnet, possibly the trapstick by which it was set. It was concealed in the path, and, when sprung, enclosed its victim, or caught him by the foot. So Proverbs 13:14; Proverbs 14:27. The genitive in all these passages requires us to understand that the object of this leashing and snaring is the death of the victim.

Prevented me That is, the snares lay before him whichever way he turned.