Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
For thou hast delivered my soul from death - That is, my "life." Thou hast kept "me" from death. He was surrounded by enemies. He was pursued by them from place to place. He had been, however, graciously delivered from these dangers, and had been kept alive. Now he gratefully remembers this mercy, and confidently appeals to God to interpose still further, and keep him from stumbling.
Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling - This might be rendered, "Hast thou not delivered;" thus carrying forward the thought just before expressed. So the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and Luther and DeWette render it. The Hebrew, however, will admit of the translation in our common version, and such a petition would be an appropriate close of the psalm. Thus understood, it would be the recognition of dependence on God; the expression of gratitude for his former mercies; the utterance of a desire to honor him always; the acknowledgment of the fact that God only could keep him; and the manifestation of a wish that he might be enabled to live and act as in His presence. The word here rendered "falling" means usually a "thrusting" or "casting down," as by violence. The prayer is, that he might be kept amid the dangers of his way; or that God would uphold him so that he might still honor Him.
That I may walk before God - As in his presence; enjoying his friendship and favor.
In the light of the living - See the notes at Job 33:30. The grave is represented everywhere in the Scriptures as a region of darkness (see the notes at Job 10:21-22; compare Psalms 6:5; Psalms 30:9; Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 38:18-19), and this world as light. The prayer, therefore, is, that he might continue to live, and that he might enjoy the favor of God: a prayer always proper for man, whatever his rank or condition.
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