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.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 18:2Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
- Ps 139:9–10If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
- Isa 32:2A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
- Ps 62:6He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken.
- Deut 4:29But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Ps 62:2He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress — I will never be greatly shaken.
- Ps 77:3I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.
- Ps 18:46Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,
- Ps 27:5For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.
- Ps 142:3When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, you knew my route. On the path in which I walk, they have hidden a snare for me.
- Ps 40:2He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
- Jonah 2:2–4He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.
- Isa 54:11“You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
- Ps 143:4Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
- Ps 42:6My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
- Ps 43:5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.
- Ps 55:5Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me.
- Luke 22:44Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
- Mark 14:33–34He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly 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.