Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
Parallel translations
- WEB Return, Yahweh. Deliver my soul, and save me for your loving kindness’ sake.
- BSB Turn, O LORD, and deliver my soul; save me because of Your loving devotion.
- NKJV Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
- NASB ¶Return, Lord, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your mercy.
- NLT Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love.
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 asks God to turn back to him and deliver him for the sake of His steadfast love. He appeals to God's mercy, not his own merit.
Overview
David pleads for God to 'return,' as if the Lord had withdrawn, and to rescue him on the basis of 'loving kindness'—God's covenant faithfulness. The ground of his hope is not what he deserves but what God is. This steadfast love is the same mercy that reaches its fullest expression in the salvation accomplished by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Dan 9:18O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
- Ps 17:13Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
- Ps 116:4Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
- Eph 2:7–8That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
- Ps 22:20Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
- Ps 90:13Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
- Ps 121:7The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
- Ps 80:14Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
- Mal 3:7Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
- Ps 116:8For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
- Ps 86:13For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
- Ps 120:2Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
- Ps 25:7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
- Eph 1:6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
- Ps 79:8–9O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
- Isa 38:17Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
- Ps 69:13But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 6:4 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.