Like a crane [or] a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail [with looking] upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
Ver. 14. Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter.] Ita pipiebam; peraptae sunt similitudines. Broken petitions coming from a broken heart are of singular avail with God. Psa 51:17 Ah Pater brevissima quidem vex est, sed omnia complectitur, saith Luther - i.e., Ah, Father, is a short prayer, but very complexive and effectual. So is the prayer here recorded.
O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.] a Miserere mihi misero. Hezekiah, though a most holy man, begged pardon at his death, and flees to Christ, his surety. So did Augustine (he prayed over the seven penitential psalms) and Fulgentius, and Archbishop Ussher. Some render it Pertexe me, weave me out, lengthen my life to its due period.
a Tu tuam fldem interpone.