Limitless Word
My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
Psalms 119:25 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!
  • KJV My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
  • BSB My soul cleaves 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 30:6Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
  • Ps 119:159Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness.
  • Col 3:2Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
  • Ps 71:20You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
  • Ps 44:25For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth.
  • Ps 143:11Revive me, Yahweh, for your name’s sake. In your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
  • Rom 7:22–24For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,
  • Ps 119:156Great are your tender mercies, Yahweh. Revive me according to your ordinances.
  • Ps 119:88Preserve my life according to your loving kindness, so I will obey the statutes of your mouth. LAMED
  • Ps 119:40Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness. WAW
  • Ps 119:93I will never forget your precepts, for with them, you have revived me.
  • Ps 119:37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
  • Ps 80:18So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name.
  • Ps 119:149Hear my voice according to your loving kindness. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your ordinances.
  • Ps 119:107I am afflicted very much. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your word.
  • Phil 3:19whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
  • Isa 65:25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.
  • 2 Sam 7:27–29For you, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to you.
  • Ps 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.
  • Rom 8:2–3For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
  • Matt 16:23But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 119:25YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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.