My soul also is greatly troubled; But You, 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?
- BSB My soul is deeply distressed. How long, 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 90:13Relent, Yahweh! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
- 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.
- Luke 18:7Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
- Ps 42:11Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.
- Ps 77:2–3In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted.
- Ps 42:5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
- Ps 13:1–2For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
- Ps 31:9–10Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
- Prov 18:14A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?
- Matt 26:38Then he said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch with me.”
- Ps 77:7“Will the Lord reject us forever? Will he be favorable no more?
- Ps 38:8I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my 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.