Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close.
Parallel translations
- WEB When my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up.
- KJV When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
- BSB Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.
- NKJV When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me.
- NASB For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up.
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
Even if his own father and mother abandon him, David trusts that the Lord will take him up. It assures believers of God's unfailing care when human support fails.
Overview
David names the closest human bonds to magnify God's superior faithfulness. The verse does not assume his parents had forsaken him but uses the most extreme case to highlight God's covenant loyalty. This points to the Father who receives the orphan and adopts us as sons through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 49:15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!
- Isa 40:11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
- John 16:32Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
- Matt 10:36A man’s foes will be those of his own household.
- 2 Tim 4:16At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them.
- Ps 69:8I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children.
- Matt 10:21–22“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
- John 9:35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
- 2 Sam 16:11David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has invited him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 27:10 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.