Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.
- BSB Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
- NKJV Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help.
- NASB ¶Do not be far from me, for trouble is near; For there is no one to help.
- NLT Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help 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
He pleads, 'Don't be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.' In his isolation he begs God to draw close.
Overview
The sufferer turns from reflection to urgent petition: trouble presses in and no human help is available, so he asks God not to remain distant. This cry from utter isolation captures the loneliness of suffering. It foreshadows the Messiah, who in his passion was abandoned by all yet entrusted himself to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 71:12O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
- Ps 10:1Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
- John 16:32Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
- Ps 72:12For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
- Heb 5:7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
- Ps 38:21Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
- Ps 142:4–6I 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.
- Ps 35:22This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.
- Ps 69:1–2Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
- Isa 63:5And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld 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 13:1–3How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
- Ps 69:18Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
- 2 Kgs 14:26For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.
- Deut 32:36For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
- Matt 26:74Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
- Matt 26:72And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:11 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.