Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
Ver. 15. Terrors are turned upon me] I am horribly afraid of thy judgments, as David expresseth it; and this was it that pointed and put a sting into all other sufferings; for a wounded conscience who can bear? If the shoulder be galled, the burden will be very tedious and irksome. Be not thou a terror unto me, Lord, saith Jeremiah, and then I care not much what else soever befalleth me. But why were these terrors so troublesome?
They pursue my soul as the wind] Brentius rendereth it, They pursue my liberality, or, They take away from me all the cheerfulness and readiness of my mind; whereby heretofore I suffered so many calamities, and shrank not; for the joy of the Lord was my strength, and then nothing came amiss to me. Thou hast strengthened me with strength in my soul, Psalms 138:3, and upheld me with thy noble spirit, Psalms 51:12. The Chaldee hath it, kingly spirit, and it is the same word in the original that is here rendered, my soul; it is, my princess, or, my nobility, for so the soul is the more noble part, Animam meam nobilem et inclytam (Vat.). David calleth it his glory, Psalms 16:9, and his darling, Psalms 22:20. Some of the Jewish doctors make it the same with welfare, in the words following; but that is not likely.
And my welfare passeth away as a cloud] i.e. Totally, as before; irresistible like the wind. Job aboundeth with similitudes, which do notably illustrate. Terrorum vim simili a vento illustrat, et salutem a se abeuntem similitudine nubis (Merl.). He would say, I am utterly deprived of all means of avoiding this misery.