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Psalm 18:5

The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

3I call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.
4The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
5The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
6In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
7Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
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← Psalm 18:4Psalm 18:6 →
Notice

Cords and snares make death feel close enough to catch and bind, expressing the terror of being trapped with no escape in sight.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What does the picture of cords and snares express that the word danger alone would miss?

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What fear would you want to name before God with this verse's plainness?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 32:7You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.Both use the language of being surrounded, with death's cords in one and songs of deliverance in the other.
Proverbs 13:14The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.Both name the snares of death; Proverbs describes wise teaching as a spring of life that turns people from them.
Psalm 86:13For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.Both name Sheol as a threat to life; Psalm 86 credits God's loving kindness with deliverance from its depths.
Psalm 88:15–17I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.Both speak from the nearness of death, using stark language for distress rather than softening its terror.
Psalm 88:3–8For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.Both describe life threatened by Sheol, one through encircling cords and the other through drawing near to it.
Acts 2:24whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.Both portray death as a force that can hold someone; Acts declares that God raised Jesus and broke death's hold.
Proverbs 14:27The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.Both name the snares of death; Proverbs describes the fear of the LORD as a fountain of life turning people away.
2 Samuel 22:6The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me.Both describe the cords of Sheol surrounding the speaker and the snares of death reaching him.
Job 36:8If they are bound in fetters, and are taken in the cords of afflictions,Both picture suffering through cords that bind, with Job speaking of affliction and the psalm speaking of Sheol.
Ecclesiastes 9:12For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men …Both portray danger as a snare that catches people; Ecclesiastes stresses how little people know when trouble will fall.
Jeremiah 49:22Behold, he will come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah. The heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of …The shared thread is danger: the psalm describes death closing in, while Jeremiah describes an attack that terrifies Edom's warriors.
Where this verse fits

Death and what comes after. illness or diagnosis. anxiety or panic.

What the Bible says about death →What the Bible says about anxiety →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Name one fear of death before God

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Encouragement

Such stark words belong in Scripture and in prayer. In the next verse, David cries to God from this distress, and God hears him while the danger is real.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 18:5. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 18 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).