Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.
Parallel translations
- KJV I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
- BSB Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
- NKJV Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.
- NASB Look to the right and see; For there is no one who regards me favorably; There is no escape for me; No one cares for my soul.
- NLT I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.
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
David looks around and finds no one who cares for his soul; refuge has fled. It voices the painful loneliness of abandonment.
Overview
At his lowest, David feels utterly alone, with no human helper or place of escape. This honest cry of isolation drives him to God as his only refuge in the next verse. Even Christ knew abandonment, that we who trust Him might never be finally forsaken (Matthew 27:46; Hebrews 13:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 30:17For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh; “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”
- Ps 88:18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
- Ps 31:11Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
- Job 19:13–19“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
- Matt 26:56But all this has happened, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him, and fled.
- Ps 69:20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
- 1 Sam 27:1David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand.”
- Ps 88:8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
- 2 Tim 4:16At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them.
- 1 Sam 23:11–13Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant.” Yahweh said, “He will come down.”
- 1 Sam 23:19–20Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.”
- Jer 25:35The shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leader of the flock to escape.
Resources, by level
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 142:4 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.