I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
Psalms 142:1-7.-The Psalmist's overwhelmed state (Psalms 142:1-4); he promises praise to God in the event of his deliverance, in which the righteous will sympathize (Psalms 142:5-7).
Maschil - i:e., Instruction, (Psalms 32:1-11, Introduction). The general instruction from the particular experience of David appears in Psalms 142:6, the conclusion.
A prayer when he was in the cave - (cf. Psalms 57:1-11, Introduction.) The Hebrew for "Prayer," Tephillah, implies, not prayer in general, but 'supplicatory prayer.' The mention of "the cave" includes in the thought, not merely the particular fact of David's being in the cave of Adullam, when he fled from Saul; but also that the psalm is suited to the people of God when they are in the cave-like darkness of trials and persecutions. Compare Introduction, Psalms 57:1-11.
I cried unto the Lord with my voice. Hilary saith, 'Even the silent and spiritual expectation of every believer is a cry to God.' But the prayer of the heart is not confined there; it finds utterance aloud with the voice. What David did himself (Psalms 3:4), he would have his posterity and all believers in their trouble to do.
With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication - (Psalms 30:8.)