¶Answer me quickly, Lord, my spirit fails; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will be the same as those who go down to the pit.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- KJV Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
- BSB Answer 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.
- NKJV Answer me speedily, O Lord; My spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
- NLT Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die.
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 pleads for a quick answer as his spirit fails, asking God not to hide His face. It is an urgent cry for God's presence lest he perish.
Overview
David's strength is nearly gone, and he fears becoming like those in the pit if God remains hidden. The 'face' of God signifies His favorable, saving presence. To not be left in the pit is the very hope fulfilled in Christ, whose resurrection assures believers they will not be abandoned to death (Acts 2:27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 69:17Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!
- Ps 28:1By David. To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me; lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
- Ps 27:9Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.
- Ps 71:12God, don’t be far from me. My God, hurry to help me.
- Ps 102:2Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
- Isa 38:18For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
- Ps 88:4–6I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,
- Ps 69:3I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Ps 70:5But I am poor and needy. Come to me quickly, God. You are my help and my deliverer. Yahweh, don’t delay.
- Ps 88:10–11Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
- Ps 22:24For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, Neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard.
- Ps 13:1–4For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Ps 40:17But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
- Isa 57:16For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.
- Isa 8:17I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
- Ps 40:12–13For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.
- Luke 21:26men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
- Ps 84:2My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
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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 143:7 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.