I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
Parallel translations
- WEB I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- KJV I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
- NKJV I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
- NASB I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
- NLT I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help 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 is exhausted from crying out, his throat parched and eyes failing as he waits for God. It shows the weariness of prolonged, unanswered prayer.
Overview
David describes the physical toll of persistent prayer: a worn-out voice, a dry throat, and failing eyes that strain to see God act. Even faithful waiting can be wearying. Christ too knew such anguish, and this verse encourages believers that growing tired while waiting on God is not faithlessness but part of the life of trusting prayer.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 6:6I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- Isa 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
- Ps 119:123My eyes fail, looking for Your salvation, and for Your righteous promise.
- Ps 119:82My eyes fail, looking for Your promise; I ask, “When will You comfort me?”
- Deut 28:32Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.
- Ps 25:21May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.
- John 19:28After this, knowing that everything had now been accomplished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
- Lam 2:11My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
- Heb 5:7During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
- Ps 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- Ps 22:2I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
- Ps 39:7And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Ps 13:1–3For 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 69:21They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.
- Job 16:16My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 69:3 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.