Psalms 69:15

Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD directly, pleading for rescue from drowning and entrapment in the Pit. This plea follows a request to be saved from mire and deep waters, and precedes a petition for God to answer based on His steadfast love.

The words — The Hebrew phrase שִׁבֹּלֶת מַיִם (shibbolet mayim) literally means "flood of water," while מְצוּלָה (metzulah) denotes "the deep" or "Pit." The psalmist uses these terms to describe the immediate, overwhelming threat of being swallowed and sealed.

The thread — This imagery of overwhelming waters and the Pit appears in Revelation 12:15, where a serpent spews a river to sweep someone away, and in Psalm 16:10, which contrasts divine preservation with abandonment to Sheol. The psalmist's specific fear of being engulfed and sealed mirrors these later biblical depictions of chaotic forces and the realm of the dead.

Why it lands — The text states a direct plea for God to prevent destruction by water and the Pit before noting His compassion as the basis for the request. It requires the reader to acknowledge that deliverance from inescapable danger depends entirely on divine intervention.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אַל־'al-may not תִּשְׁטְפֵ֤נִי׀tish.te.Fe./niit overflow/ me שִׁבֹּ֣לֶתshi.Bo.leta flood of מַ֭יִםMa.yimwater וְאַל־ve./'al-and/ may not תִּבְלָעֵ֣נִיtiv.la.'E./niit swallow up/ me מְצוּלָ֑הme.tzu.Lah[the] deep וְאַל־ve./'al-and/ may not תֶּאְטַר־te'.tar-it close עָלַ֖י'a.La/iover/ me בְּאֵ֣רbe.'Er[the] pit פִּֽיהָ׃Pi./hamouth/ its

King James Version

Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

Cross-references

Revelation 12:15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away in the torrent.
Psalms 16:10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
Isaiah 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine!
Jonah 2:2 saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
Acts 2:24 But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip.
Numbers 16:33 They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
Psalms 88:4 I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
Psalms 124:4 then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us,
Acts 2:31 Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay.
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.