Perhaps the best known of the Penitential Psalm. Psalm 130 contains the ardent prayer of a man who is distressed by a sense of God's anger against sin; it it, we see an earnest penitent turning to God, longing for forgiveness. But this Psalm is also marked by a steady upward progression: depth; prayer; conviction; light; hope; waiting; watching; longing; confidence; assurance; universal happiness and joy. As a barometer marks the rising of the weather, so each sentence of this Psalm records the progress of the soul.