"The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;"
As the psalmist considered a very rough time in his life, he remembered how it felt when attacked by those who hated him. It felt like "waves of death" were breaking over him (in verse 5) and then, in this verse, he says that the "sorrows of hell" surrounded him completely. And, the "snares of death" were preceding him. A very rough time indeed.
In fact, almost all of the references in the Authorized KJV to "hell" are describing our current struggles in life. When some smug types began preaching their hate, it can become hellish rather quickly. And the experience feels all encompassing: everything about life seems pathetic and miserable when others demean us. If God is love, then the opposite impulse, destructive hatred, is the embodiment of hell. Thankfully, the psalmist also experiences deliverance from the sorrows of hell as this "psalm" within 2 Samuel continues.
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