“O Lord,” I prayed, “have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
- KJV I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
- BSB I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against You.”
- NKJV I said, “Lord, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
- NASB ¶As for me, I said, “Lord, be gracious to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
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 prays for mercy and healing, confessing he has sinned against God. He links his need for healing to repentance.
Overview
Turning to his own case, David asks for grace, acknowledging his sin. He seeks healing not as an entitlement but as a penitent. This union of confession and plea for mercy is the gospel posture answered fully in Christ's pardon.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 103:3who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;
- Jas 5:15–16and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
- Hos 6:1“Come, and let us return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- 2 Chr 30:18–20For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover other than the way it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Yahweh pardon everyone
- Ps 147:3He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
- Ps 6:2–4Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am faint. Yahweh, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
- Ps 32:5I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
- Ps 51:1–4For 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 41:4 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.