Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than me.
- KJV Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
- NKJV Attend to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than I.
- NASB “Give Your attention to my cry, For I have been brought very low; Rescue me from my persecutors, For they are too strong for me.
- NLT Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for 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 begs God to hear his cry, for he is brought low and his persecutors are too strong. It admits weakness while appealing to God's strength.
Overview
David confesses both his desperate need and the superior power of his enemies, throwing himself wholly on God. Acknowledging weakness is the doorway to dependence on divine strength. God's power is made perfect in weakness, supremely displayed when Christ conquered through the apparent defeat of the cross (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 79:8Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.
- Ps 116:6The LORD preserves the simplehearted; I was helpless, and He saved me.
- Ps 136:23He remembered us in our low estate His loving devotion endures forever.
- Ps 17:1A prayer of David. Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer—it comes from lips free of deceit.
- Ps 3:1A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom. O LORD, how my foes have increased! How many rise up against me!
- Ps 59:3See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.
- Rom 8:37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
- Ps 143:7Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Ps 57:3–4He reaches down from heaven and saves me; He rebukes those who trample me. Selah God sends forth His loving devotion and His truth.
- Rom 8:33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
- Ps 38:19Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.
- Ps 18:17He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me.
- 1 Sam 24:14Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?
- Ps 44:24–26Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
- Ps 143:3For the enemy has pursued my soul, crushing my life to the ground, making me dwell in darkness like those long since dead.
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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 142:6 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.