My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
- BSB My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
- NKJV My soul faints for Your salvation, But I hope in Your word.
- NASB ¶My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
- NLT I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in 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 faints with longing for God's salvation, yet he keeps hoping in God's word. Even exhausted, he anchors his soul to the promise.
Overview
Beginning the KAF stanza of weariness, the psalmist describes a soul worn thin by waiting for deliverance. Yet his hope does not collapse; it rests on God's word, which holds him when his strength fails. This is the hope that does not disappoint, fulfilled in the salvation God provides in Christ for all who wait on Him (Rom. 5:5; Lam. 3:25-26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 84:2My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
- Ps 119:40Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
- Ps 119:114Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
- Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
- Song 5:8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
- Rev 3:15–16I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
- Ps 119:77Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.
- Ps 119:42So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
- Ps 42:1–2As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
- Ps 119:74They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.
- Ps 119:20My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 119:81 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.