My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
Parallel translations
- WEB My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on 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 sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Mark 14:33–34And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
- 2 Cor 1:8–10For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
- 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;
- Ps 18:4–5The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
- Matt 26:37–38And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
- Isa 38:10–13I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
- Ps 6:3My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
- Ps 69:20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
- Ps 88:3For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
- Ps 102:3–5For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
- John 12:27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
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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 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.