Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.
- BSB O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.
- NKJV Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
- NASB ¶You, Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your mercy and Your truth will continually watch over me.
- NLT Lord, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect 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
David asks God not to withhold mercy but to let His love and truth preserve him continually. He depends on God's steadfast care for ongoing protection.
Overview
The psalm now turns from praise to petition, leaning on the very attributes just confessed. David trusts God's lovingkindness and truth to keep him. The believer rests in the same covenant faithfulness now fully displayed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 23:6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
- Ps 43:3O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
- Ps 57:3He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
- Prov 20:28Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.
- Ps 69:16Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
- Ps 61:7He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.
- Ps 69:13But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
- Ps 85:10Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
- 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;
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 40:11 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.