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Psalm 30 Bible study: Mourning into dancing

In Psalm 30, "you have raised me up" (30:1) is dalah, a verb for drawing water. "I shall never be moved" (30:6), said in prosperity, opens with two Hebrew words that Psalm 10's wicked man and Psalm 16 also say. And the verb of the cry "Shall the dust praise you?" (30:9) comes back in the psalm's last line: "I will give thanks to you forever!" (30:12).

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“For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Psalm 30:5 · World English Bible

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“Psalm 30 says weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Is that in Psalm 30, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

Drawn up, like water

In the text

"I will extol you, LORD, for you have raised me up" (30:1). Here is what almost everyone misses: raised me up is dalah, a verb Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "draw (water)" (tap raised). In Exodus the daughters of the priest of Midian "came and drew water" (Exodus 2:16), and said of an Egyptian, "he drew water for us" (Exodus 2:19). For this form, Brown-Driver-Briggs gives "thou hast drawn me up". This is the only time the Psalms have the verb. Two verses later the psalm says it again with another verb: "LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit" (30:3) (tap Sheol). The psalmist speaks as one drawn up.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Psalm 30

That was a taste

The rest of Psalm 30 is waiting in Favor

  • Thanks first, then the story
  • The words of Psalm 10 and Psalm 16
  • A moment and a lifetime, a night and a morning
  • "For a moment", in Isaiah 54
  • "This sickness is not to death"
  • 7 questions as you read
  • 14 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

דָּלָהdalahsay da-LAH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "draw (water)", and for the form in 30:1, "thou hast drawn me up". Strong's: "to let down a bucket (for drawing out water); figuratively, to deliver". "I will extol you, LORD, for you have raised me up" (30:1). The Hebrew Bible has it only five times. Three are in Exodus 2: the daughters of the priest of Midian "came and drew water" (Exodus 2:16), and said of an Egyptian, "he drew water for us" (Exodus 2:19), where the verb comes twice. The fourth is "Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out" (Proverbs 20:5). The fifth is here, the only time in the Psalms.

For your group

Psalm 30 Bible study questions

  1. 1"As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”" (30:6). When things were going well for you, what did you tell yourself? What happened to that when things changed?
  2. 2"Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning" (30:5). Think of a night of weeping you have come through. What was the morning like, and how long did it take to come?
  3. 3The psalm ends, "to the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent" (30:12), and it calls others to praise too (30:4). Who could you tell this week about something the LORD has brought you through?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 30 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home