“Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.”
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him is great power to redeem. The address to Israel shifts from individual petition to corporate exhortation, inviting the whole community to share the hope grounded in verses 5-6. The shift to second person and plural form transforms this psalm from private lament into congregational encouragement. The two attributes of God—steadfast love and redemptive power—establish that hope rests on God's character and capacity, not on circumstance. Steadfast love reminds that God maintains covenant faithfulness even toward sinners; redemptive power assures that this love is not merely sentimental but efficacious. The call to hope becomes a call to join the speaker in the waiting and faith already modeled.
Church Fathers on Psalms 130:7
1. “Out of the deep have I called unto You, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice” Psalm 129:1. Jonas cried from the deep; from the whale's belly. Jonah 2:2 He was not only beneath the waves, but also in the entrails of the beast; nevertheless, those waves and that body prevented not his prayer from reaching God, and the beast's belly could not contain the voice of his prayer It penetrated all things, it burst through all things, it reached the ears of God: if indeed we ought to say…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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