Limitless Word
I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word.
Psalms 119:81 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.
  • KJV My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy 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.

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 longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
  • Ps 119:40Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness. WAW
  • Ps 119:114You are my hiding place and my shield. I hope in your word.
  • Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
  • Song 5:8I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
  • Rev 3:15–16“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.
  • Ps 119:77Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.
  • Ps 119:42So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in your word.
  • Ps 42:1–2For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
  • Ps 119:74Those who fear you will see me and be glad, because I have put my hope in your word.
  • Ps 119:20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.

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 119:81YouTube · 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 119:81 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.