Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble - Compare Daniel 9. This is repeated in the psalm in Psalm 107:6, Psalm 107:13, Psalm 107:19, Psalm 107:28 - in all the divisions of the psalm except the last. See the notes at Psalm 107:6.

Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble - This was the salutary effect which their afflictions produced: they began to cry to God for mercy and help; and God mercifully heard their prayer, and reversed their state; for,

Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble,.... Their affliction, their hearts being brought down with labour, and they being and finding themselves in a state of darkness, in the shadow of death, in affliction and iron; or in soul troubles, under a sense of sin, and in a view of wrath and displeasure; under apprehensions of imminent danger, as the disciples in the storm; and therefore cry to the Lord, as they did,

Lord, save us, we perish, Matthew 8:2.

And he saved them out of their distresses; from all their sins; from the curse of the law; from wrath to come; from hell and death; being both able and willing. The following verse further explains this.

Then they {e} cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

(e) He shows that the reason God punishes us extremely is because we can be brought to him by no other means.

107:10-16 This description of prisoners and captives intimates that they are desolate and sorrowful. In the eastern prisons the captives were and are treated with much severity. Afflicting providences must be improved as humbling providences; and we lose the benefit, if our hearts are unhumbled and unbroken under them. This is a shadow of the sinner's deliverance from a far worse confinement. The awakened sinner discovers his guilt and misery. Having struggled in vain for deliverance, he finds there is no help for him but in the mercy and grace of God. His sin is forgiven by a merciful God, and his pardon is accompanied by deliverance from the power of sin and Satan, and by the sanctifying and comforting influences of God the Holy Spirit.