He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
He made darkness his secret place. This verse expands (Psalms 18:9) "darkness was under His feet."
His pavillion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds. From these dark watery and thick clouds broke forth the thunder, lightning, and hail which David proceeds to describe (Psalms 18:12-14). See Job 36:29; Psalms 97:2.
Thick clouds - literally, clouds of clouds х `aabeey (H5645) shªchaaqiym (H7834). The former occurs only in the plural, and therefore stands for the clouds of the entire heaven (Hengstenberg), the upper and rarer clouds of the ether (Bustorf). The latter implies denser clouds, from `uwb (H5743), to be thick].