Psalms 42:7

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts - expansion of the first clause of Psalms 42:6, "My soul is cast down within me." One flood of suffering invites another flood to pour itself on the sufferer. "Thy water-spouts" - literally, 'thy water-channels' (2 Samuel 5:8). The imagery is from the flood (cf. Psalms 29:10; Psalms 32:6); again, as then, "the windows of heaven" are opened (Genesis 7:11), the deluging cataract pours down by the appointed courses with an awful roar. The "at" lª- expresses the cause of the rapid succession of billows-namely, thy having let loose the roaring cataracts (Job 38:25).

All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. "Waves" - literally, 'breakers.' This can only refer to the sea. Therefore the view of Maurer, etc., is incorrect - namely, that the imagery is drawn from the mountain-floods, in the hilly region beyond Jordan, where David in exile was. Jonah 2:1; Jonah 3:1; Jonah 4:1 draws his language from David here.