My soul is deeply distressed. How long, O LORD, how long?
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh — how long?
- KJV My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
- NKJV My soul also is greatly troubled; But You, O Lord—how long?
- NASB And my soul is greatly horrified; But You, Lord—how long?
- NLT I am sick at heart. How long, O Lord, until you restore 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 soul is in deep anguish, and he cries out, 'How long?' Even the faithful wrestle with the agony of God's seeming delay.
Overview
The torment that gripped David's body now grips his inmost soul, and his prayer breaks off in the anguished question, 'How long?' This honest lament shows that faith and deep distress can coexist. Scripture welcomes such cries, which find their answer in the God who is near to the brokenhearted and who in Christ entered fully into human suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 90:13Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
- John 12:27Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.
- Luke 18:7Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- Ps 42:11Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
- Ps 77:2–3In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Ps 42:5Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.
- Ps 13:1–2For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
- Ps 31:9–10Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.
- Prov 18:14The spirit of a man can endure his sickness, but who can survive a broken spirit?
- Matt 26:38Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”
- Ps 77:7“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?
- Ps 38:8I am numb and badly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
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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 6:3 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.