Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper!”
Parallel translations
- WEB Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me. Yahweh, be my helper.”
- KJV Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.
- BSB Hear me, O LORD, and have mercy; O LORD, be my helper.”
- NASB ¶“Hear, Lord, and be gracious to me; Lord, be my helper.”
- NLT Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.”
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 the Lord to hear, show mercy, and be his helper. It is a direct plea for God's gracious aid.
Overview
The petition is simple and dependent, casting David wholly on God's mercy. He seeks not his own merit but God's help. Such prayer expresses the humility that befits all who come to God, ultimately through the Helper and Mediator, Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 54:4Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.
- Ps 143:1A Psalm by David. Hear my prayer, Yahweh. Listen to my petitions. In your faithfulness and righteousness, relieve me.
- Ps 143:7–9Hurry 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.
- Ps 28:7Yahweh is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him.
- Ps 27:7Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me.
- Ps 51:1–2For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 30:10 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.