For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
Parallel translations
- WEB for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
- KJV For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
- ESV For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me.
- NKJV For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.
- NASB For I am afflicted and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.
- NLT For I am poor and needy, and my heart is full of pain.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David confesses that he is poor, needy, and wounded in heart. His weakness becomes the basis of his appeal to God's mercy.
Overview
David identifies himself with the very poor and broken-hearted his enemy persecuted (v. 16), casting himself on God's compassion. Scripture consistently shows that God draws near to the lowly and afflicted (Psalm 51:17). Christ likewise was 'poor' for our sake (2 Corinthians 8:9) and is near to the brokenhearted who call on Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 86:1A prayer of David. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
- Ps 102:4My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.
- Ps 40:17But I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my helper and deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
- 2 Kgs 4:27When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
- Ps 22:6But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
- John 12:27Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.
- 2 Cor 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
- Matt 8:20Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”
- Ps 88:15–16From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Isa 53:3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
- Ps 102:17–20He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Luke 22:44And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
- Ps 109:16For he never thought to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted, even to their death.
Resources, by level
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 109:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.