Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Unless the Lord had been my help - At the time referred to. If I had not had a God to whom I could have gone - if my mind had not been directed to him - if I had not actually found him a refuge and strength, I should have despaired altogether. There was no other one to whom I could go; there was nothing else but the help of God on which I could rely.
My soul had almost dwelt in silence - Margin, quickly. The original is, "It was as it were but little;" that is, there was little lacking to bring this about; a little heavier pressure - a little added to what I was then suffering - a little longer time before relief was obtained - would have brought me down to the land of silence - to the grave. The Latin Vulgate renders this, "My soul had dwelt in inpherno ." The Septuagint, "in Hades" - ̓́ͅ ̔́ͅ tō Hadē . See Psalms 31:17. The grave is represented as a place of silence, or as the land of silence: Psalms 115:17 : "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Compare Amos 8:3.
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