From the ends of the earth I call out to You whenever my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Parallel translations
- WEB From the end of the earth, I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- KJV From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- NKJV From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- NASB From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- NLT From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
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
From a place of distance and overwhelmed heart, David asks God to lead him to the rock higher than himself. It seeks refuge beyond his own strength.
Overview
Feeling far off and overwhelmed, David longs to be led to a rock he cannot reach on his own. The higher rock symbolizes God himself as a place of safety above all troubles. Christians see in this an image of Christ, the rock of refuge to whom we flee when our own resources fail.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Ps 18:2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- Ps 139:9–10If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,
- Isa 32:2Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.
- Ps 62:6He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken.
- Deut 4:29But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Ps 62:2He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken.
- Ps 77:3I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah
- Ps 18:46The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock! And may the God of my salvation be exalted—
- Ps 27:5For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.
- Ps 142:3Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me.
- Ps 40:2He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.
- Jonah 2:2–4saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
- Isa 54:11“O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.
- Ps 143:4My spirit grows faint within me; my heart is dismayed inside me.
- Ps 42:6O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—even from Mount Mizar.
- Ps 43:5Why 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 55:5Fear and trembling grip me, and horror has overwhelmed me.
- Luke 22:44And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
- Mark 14:33–34He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 61:2 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.