The psalmist continues talking about his enemies.

The word translated calamity is found only here in Psalms; it means “disaster” or, in a more abstract sense, “danger,” “peril” (New English Bible). In Deuteronomy 32.35 Good News Translation translates it “doom.” In the day of my calamity is generic, and some languages do not express the circumstances resulting from trouble in a nonspecific manner. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to say “when I was trapped” or “when they tied me up.”

The word translated my stay is a noun meaning “support,” used only here, 2 Samuel 22.19, and in Isaiah 3.1 (the noun comes from the verb “to lean on, to rely on”; see Isa 50.10).

The line He brought me forth into a broad place (Hebrew, literally “he caused me to forth into a roomy place”; see 31.8; 118.5) means to rescue from danger, which is thought of as a place in which the person is confined or hemmed in by trouble and distress (see comments on “distress” in 4.1).

Delivered means “saved”; see also comments on 6.4; for he delighted in see comments on 1.2.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .