¶Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am in distress; My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body too.
Parallel translations
- WEB Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
- KJV Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
- BSB Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.
- NKJV Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!
- NLT Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away.
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 begs for mercy in his distress as his eye, soul, and body waste away with grief. It voices the toll of prolonged suffering.
Overview
The psalm turns to lament, describing how sorrow consumes David inwardly and outwardly. He holds nothing back in bringing his anguish to God. Such honest lament shows that faith does not deny pain but carries it to the Lord who alone can heal.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 6:7My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries.
- Ps 88:9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
- Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Ps 107:10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
- Ps 73:14For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.
- Ps 38:1–10A Psalm by David, for a memorial. Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.
- Job 33:19–22He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones;
- Ps 22:14–15I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
- Ps 102:3–5For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
- Ps 6:1–2For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, upon the eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your anger, neither discipline me in your wrath.
- Ps 44:25For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth.
- Ps 88:3–5For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
- Lam 4:17Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help: In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.
- Ps 66:14which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.
- Job 17:7My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
- Lam 5:17For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;
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 31:9 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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