Reach down from heaven and rescue me; rescue me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies.
Parallel translations
- WEB Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners;
- KJV Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
- BSB Reach down from on high; set me free and rescue me from the deep waters, from the grasp of foreigners,
- NKJV Stretch out Your hand from above; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, From the hand of foreigners,
- NASB Reach out with Your hand from on high; Rescue me and save me from great waters, From the hand of foreigners
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 asks God to reach down and rescue him from great waters and from foreigners' hands. It pleads for deliverance from overwhelming danger.
Overview
The 'great waters' symbolize chaos and deadly peril from which only God can rescue. David appeals to God's outstretched hand to draw him out, as God drew Israel through the sea. This rescuing hand foreshadows Christ, who reaches down to save the perishing from the depths (Matthew 14:30-31).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 18:16He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.
- Ps 69:1–2For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
- Ps 54:3For strangers have risen up against me. Violent men have sought after my soul. They haven’t set God before them. Selah.
- Rev 17:15He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
- 2 Sam 22:17He sent from on high and he took me. He drew me out of many waters.
- Ps 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
- Matt 27:43He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
- Ps 18:44As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.
- Rev 12:15–16The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.
- Neh 9:2The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
- Ps 69:14–15Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
- Mal 2:11Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Yahweh which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
- Ps 144:11Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
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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 144:7 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.