My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me.
Parallel translations
- KJV My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
- BSB My heart murmurs within me, and the terrors of death assail me.
- NKJV My heart is severely pained within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
- NASB ¶My heart is in anguish within me, And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
- NLT My heart pounds in my chest. The terror of death assaults 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's heart is in severe pain as the terrors of death press upon him. It expresses the depth of his inner suffering.
Overview
The anguish moves from outward threat to inward torment, with death's dread falling on him. David's transparency shows that godly people can experience overwhelming fear. His words give voice to sufferers and point toward the One who would face death's terrors for us (Hebrews 5:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 116:3The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
- Mark 14:33–34He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.
- 2 Cor 1:8–10For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
- Heb 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
- Ps 18:4–5The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
- Matt 26:37–38He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.
- Isa 38:10–13I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
- Ps 6:3My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh — how long?
- Ps 69:20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
- Ps 88:3For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
- Ps 102:3–5For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
- John 12:27“Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But for this cause I came to this time.
Resources, by level
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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 55:4 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.