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.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- 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 unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
- Ps 88:18Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
- Ps 31:11I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
- Job 19:13–19He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
- Matt 26:56But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
- Ps 69:20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
- 1 Sam 27:1And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
- Ps 88:8Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
- 2 Tim 4:16At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
- 1 Sam 23:11–13Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down.
- 1 Sam 23:19–20Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
- Jer 25:35And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal 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.