My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!
- BSB My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Your word.
- NKJV My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
- NASB ¶My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
- NLT I lie in the dust; revive me by your word.
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
The psalmist, brought low to the dust, prays for revival according to God's word. It matters because God's word is the source of renewed life in seasons of deep distress.
Overview
Opening the Daleth stanza, the psalmist feels his soul clinging to the dust, near despair, yet appeals to God's word to revive him. He grounds his hope of renewal in God's promises. This anticipates the gospel, where the living word of Christ raises those dead in sin to new and lasting life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Deut 30:6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
- Ps 119:159Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness.
- Col 3:2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
- Ps 71:20Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
- Ps 44:25For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
- Ps 143:11Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
- Rom 7:22–24For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- Ps 119:156Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.
- Ps 119:88Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
- Ps 119:40Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
- Ps 119:93I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.
- Ps 119:37Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
- Ps 80:18So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
- Ps 119:149Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.
- Ps 119:107I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.
- Phil 3:19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
- Isa 65:25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
- 2 Sam 7:27–29For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
- Ps 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
- Rom 8:2–3For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
- Matt 16:23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 119:25 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.