Home	Our Hope
Bible Study		July 22, 2026
Waiting for the Word

Introduction

Psalm 130 is messianic, though that is hard to see. A messianic psalm speaks about some aspect of the Messiah. The psalms were written about 500 years before the Messiah, therefore they are also prophetic in the sense that they speak of the future.

We don't know who authored this psalm. It doesn't really matter. Being a prophecy, the true author was God.

This is a very short psalm, so we have time to dig into it. Even so, this will be a brief study.

The Verses

As a psalm, the verses are poetic and in a poetic form. For this study, though, I've stripped that out in favor of grouping verses into thoughts.

Out of the depths I called to You, O Yahweh. ² O Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. ³ If You should keep iniquities, O Yah, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared. (Psalm 130:1-4)

On a linguistic note, the two instances of "voice" here come from a Hebrew word that can mean either "sound" or "voice." The translation would be better if the second one were "sound."

The word "iniquities" appears here and will appear again later. Here the word is used to make the point that Yahweh (God) forgives. The author says that, if Yahweh, also called "Lord" here, was keeping track of all of our sins, no one would escape judgment.

Then the verse says something very interesting: Yahweh forgives, therefore he should be feared. Remember that this "fear" is not "afraid"; it means "deep respect." The message is that God should be deeply respected because he forgives. I ask: Which person respects you the most, the one who owed something to you, or the one you have forgiven for what he owed? We might think that the one who respects you most is the one who owes you, because you can control him through that debt. But this verse says the opposite.

I hope for Yahweh, my soul does hope, and for His word do I wait. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning, the watchmen for the morning. (Psalm 130:5-6)

This is the verse that gives this study its title. The author refers to two persons, Yahweh and his Word. We know this "word" because John told us the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word is the person who was incarnated as Jesus.

The author says he waits for the Word (Jesus). The author is anticipating the arrival of Jesus. Statements like these make us wonder why the Jews weren't watching for the coming of God, specifically the Word. We know the answer to that, of course - they lost their focus.

Next the author says he waits for the Lord. In verse 1, he used the word "Lord" to refer to Yahweh. Now he uses "Lord" to refer to the Word. His subtle point is that the Word is also God, much like John had said.

The author continues that statement by saying that he waits for the Word more than he waits for the announcement that morning has come. In those times there were watchmen at all times, who watched for dangers coming to the city. They also called out the times of the night. If a person woke up during the night and waited for the watchmen's next call, he would know how long it would be until morning.

But the phrase "the watchmen for the morning" is repeated. Everyone wonders about the meaning of this. It calls the reader to look for something more than just the literal meaning of the text. I believe this indicates an end to spiritual darkness. So the verse would be saying, "I wait for the Word (Jesus) more than I wait for the end of spiritual darkness." By saying "more" he is saying that he desires one more than the other, but desires both. The implication is that the Word would also bring an end to spiritual darkness.

Summarizing a bit, we've seen him say:

The last pair of verses will fill in the missing piece.

O Israel, wait for Yahweh; for with Yahweh there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption. ⁸ And it is He who will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130:7-8)

Now the author uses "Yahweh," which he used before to refer to God, but he uses it with "wait," which he has only used to refer to the Word. This shows, as we saw before with "Lord," that both God and the Word are Yahweh. So part of the purpose of this psalm is to introduce the Word as a person and declare that he is Lord and Yahweh.

We can be certain he is referring to the Word here because he attributes redemption to him. Redemption is to pay a price to get something back. That's what Jesus did with his sacrifice on the cross. That finishes the table.

Conclusion

We see now that Yahweh and the Word have different roles, respectively, forgiveness and redemption. These are the two pieces that must be in place to dispense with iniquities (sin), forgiveness, which comes by faith, and redemption, which came by sacrifice.

We also see the word "lovingkindness," which wasn't used for Yahweh. This tells us more. Lovingkindness is only possible if the person is personal and present. Therefore the message is that the Word (Jesus) would be with his people.

The author calls on Israel to wait for the Word (Jesus). We wait for things that we are expecting to arrive. Israel should be watching for and waiting to receive the Word. We know that didn't happen.

Finally the author says it is the Word (Jesus) who will redeem Israel. Jesus certainly kept up his end of that redemption, but he arrived among people who had little faith.

There is a lot of information packed into this psalm. There was another person called the Word, who was also Lord and Yahweh. God was going to send the Word to be with his people so that he would be the sacrifice that, coupled with the forgiveness of Yahweh, would make it possible to free them of iniquity. Not bad for 8 verses.

We also saw that this message is very similar to part of John 1. So much so that we have to wonder if it didn't inform John in the writing of his gospel.