Turn to me and be gracious, for I am lonely and afflicted.
Parallel translations
- WEB Turn to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted.
- KJV Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.
- ESV Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
- NKJV Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted.
- NASB ¶Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted.
- NLT Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 God to turn to him in mercy because he is lonely and afflicted. He cries out from isolation for God's gracious attention.
Overview
Feeling abandoned and oppressed, David asks God to face him and show mercy. The prayer voices the loneliness and affliction common to suffering believers. It expresses confidence that God hears the cry of the desolate, a confidence grounded in the God who in Christ draws near to the lowly and never forsakes those who call on him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 86:16Turn to me and have mercy; grant Your strength to Your servant; save the son of Your maidservant.
- Mic 7:19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.
- Dan 9:17So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.
- Ps 143:4My spirit grows faint within me; my heart is dismayed inside me.
- Ps 69:14–20Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- Ps 88:15–18From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Ps 60:1For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us!
- Mark 15:33–35From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
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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 25:16 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
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