My soul melts with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word.
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul is weary with sorrow: strengthen me according to your word.
- KJV My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
- NKJV My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word.
- NASB My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word.
- NLT I weep with sorrow; encourage 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's soul melts with sorrow, and he prays to be strengthened by God's word. It matters because Scripture upholds the weary and grieving heart.
Overview
Weighed down by grief until his soul seems to dissolve, the psalmist seeks strength according to God's word. He looks to God's promises, not himself, for endurance. This dependence is met in Christ, who gives rest to the weary and whose word strengthens the faint.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
- 1 Pet 5:10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.
- Ps 27:14Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
- Zech 10:12I will strengthen them in the LORD, and in His name they will walk,” declares the LORD.
- Isa 40:29He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Ps 107:26They mounted up to the heavens, then sunk to the depths; their courage melted in their anguish.
- Ps 29:11The LORD gives His people strength; the LORD blesses His people with peace.
- Eph 3:16I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,
- Isa 40:31But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
- Josh 2:24“The LORD has surely delivered the entire land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of us.”
- Josh 2:11When we heard this, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below.
- Ps 20:2May He send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.
- Deut 33:25May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 119:28 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.